A failed move to block the city council's controversial Birmingham Clean Air Zone has cast light on further details surrounding the scheme.

Last week the opposition Conservative group applied for the proposed charge to be 'called-in' for reconsideration by the Labour-council's cabinet, after raising a raft of issues with it.

The chief concern was that it will not reduce air pollution, particularly Nitrogen Dioxide, to the required levels by 2020 and will not make the city 'fully compliant' for a further two years after.

Drivers of diesel cars older than EURO 6 (pre-2015) and petrol cars older EURO 4 (pre-2006) face a daily charge of £8 while for non-compliant HGVs, coaches and buses the fee will be £50.

The Tory attempt to block it was ultimately voted down by the Sustainability and Transport scrutiny committee the debate highlighted some of the lesser-publicised aspects of the new pollution tariff, which is now on course to be introduced within the A4540 ring road by January 2020.

Many of the points are included within the 178-page full business case.

Nitrogen dioxide levels are too high in Birmingham.

Decommission 

Only a ten-year plan has been submitted to the government. The business case states that it is 'assumed' the necessary infrastructure, such as the  Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, will be decommissioned in 2030 with an associated cost of £3.4m.

Cllr Waseem Zaffar, spearheading work on the Clean Air Zone (CAZ), said it was 'here to stay' although he added that within a few years most if not all motorists will have upgraded to compliant vehicles.

Income generation

The council calculates that the Clean Air Zone will generate £205m worth of revenue over the ten-year period, including £43.1m in the first full year alone (2020/21). The total figure also factors in the £30m to be raked in by a simultaneous move to introduce charges to the council's free parking sites.

It is estimated that there will initially be around 4,600 non-compliant cars passing through the CAZ every day, although that number is expected to fall year on year.

The income also caters for the number of people anticipated to receive the £120 penalty charge notice (PCN) for failing to pay.

The revenue will far outweigh the total costs of implementing and maintaining the zone over the ten years, calculated to be around £108m.

The council has applied to the Government for £69m, the bulk of which (£51m) is to provide a package of exemptions for residents and workers set to be hit hardest.

Any surplus has to be ring-fenced and reinvested into other measures to improve the city's transport links and air quality.

Traffic in Birmingham City centre as the new one way system started for the development of Paradise Circus.
Traffic in Birmingham City centre.

Long-term transport projects

While public health benefits are the main driver of the scheme, Cllr Zaffar has stated that Birmingham is 'over-reliant' on the car warning the city will be at a standstill unless action is taken.

Although he admits investment is needed if people are to make the switch to public transport.

With potentially millions of pounds to burn the money could be used to boost a number of transport infrastructure projects being delivered by Transport for West Midlands (West MIdlands Combined Authority).

Some developments, due by 2020, have already been widely publicised including park and ride expansions at Tipton, Sandwell, Dudley, Whitlock's End and Longbridge as well as Metro extensions to Wolverhampton city centre and west of Centenary Square in Birmingham.

By 2022 new railway stations are planned for Moseley, Kings Heath, Hazelwell, Darlaston and Willenhall by which time West Midlands Railway hope to have created 20,000 extra rail seats on peak morning services to Birmingham city centre.

Further tram expansions are also proposed by then, to Edgbaston Five Ways, Eastside and phase one of the Wednesbury to Brierley Extension.

Three rapid transit bus routes will be established to the new Langley and Peddimore development, Birmingham Airport and Perry Barr.

It is perhaps the schemes touted for 2026 that have received little publicity at this stage. Those include continuations of tram extensions into Dudley and Solihull as well as more rapid transit bus routes from Birmingham to Halesowen, Dudley, Longbridge, Hall Green and Solihull.

Motorbikes

Ever since the Clean Air Zone was announced a question mark has remained as to whether motorbikes would be included.

But Cllr Zaffar has now confirmed that they will be exempt along with emergency vehicles.

The move has been welcomed by the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) who had campaigned and argued that motorcycles and mopeds actually contribute towards reducing congestion and pollution on the roads.

They say the decision in Birmingham will set a precedent for Clean Air Zone proposals in other parts of the country.

Other measures

The Clean Air Zone alone will take until beyond 2022 to bring pollution down to the required levels, therefore further measures are needed particularly to tackle hotspots within the city centre.

A 'longlist' of more than 100 additional options was considered but ultimately the council settled on three:

  • Introducing charges for all council controlled parking which is currently free to further disincentivise car use.
  • Banning traffic travelling northbound on Suffolk Street Queensway (A38) that exits onto Paradise Circus to then access Sandpits Parade and southbound traffic from Paradise Circus accessing the A38.
  • Closing Lister Street and Great Lister Street at the junction with Dartmouth Middleway.

Among the dozens of ideas discounted included average speed enforcement along the A38 and Dartmouth Circus as well as establishing freight consolidation centres.