Clean air charge cuts high-polluting vehicle numbers

The council introduced charges in January 2023

The introduction of a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) has led to a substantial cut in the number of high-polluting vehicles being driven through Newcastle city centre.

Since January 2023, older taxis, buses, coaches and lorries that do not comply with emissions standards have faced a charge of £12.50 to £50 a day.

Latest council figures show that in the week prior to the charge about 26,000 non-compliant vehicles entered the zone, but by the end of the year it had dropped to 10,000.

Transport boss Pamela Holmes said the improvement was down to a number of factors, including the natural phasing out of older vehicles from the market.

The count, carried out by 38 automatic number plate recognition cameras, excludes private cars.

'Not about money'

A report to the Labour-led city council's finance and budget monitoring scrutiny committee found that while there had been a 62% drop in the number of non-compliant vehicles, the overall number of journeys through the CAZ area was said to have remained within 7% of pre-toll levels.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the report did not reference whether there had been a noted displacement of high-polluting traffic elsewhere on Tyneside.

There had been concerns that the charge would risk pushing problems to other parts of the city, particularly to the west, with more drivers using the A1 to cross the Tyne.

Ms Holmes added people and businesses were also bringing forward plans to buy newer, cleaner vehicles in order to avoid the tolls, with some successfully obtaining council grants to help the upgrade.

She added that Newcastle and Gateshead councils "do not aim to make money" from the toll, with the priority being to "inform people about the charge [and] deter polluting vehicles from entering the zone".

"Revenue income from charges and penalty charge notices is firstly to be used to pay for the running of CAZ", she said.