Clean Air Zone - Latest

Next CAZ to go live:

Sheffield’s CAZ goes live on Monday 27th February 2023. The inner ring road and central business district are part of a class C charged zone, meaning the most polluting HGVs, LGVs, vans, buses, coaches, and taxis are subject to a fee for entering this area. [click for details]

Newcastle and Gateshead's Clean Air Zone saw signs erected and cameras go live from 3rd October 2022. Although the 38 cameras around the zone are operating, drivers are not yet being charged. Private vehicles will not be charged, while HGV's will only need to start paying from 30th January 2023 and Vans/light goods vehciles will not face charges until July 2023.

 

Recent Clean Air Zones that went live:

Bristol’s Clean Air Zone went live on 28th November 2022, although only a small area in the centre of Bristol logistics companies could easily be caught out if a vehicle enters the area, charges start at £9/day for light good vehicles (under 3.5t) and rise to £100/day for HGV’s (over 3.5t). 

Bradford's Clean Air zone Went live on Monday 26th September 2022. Covering the City Centre and Outer Ring Road.

Pre-Euro VI HGV's will be charged £50 daily. Pre-EuroVi LGV's diesel and pre-EuroIV petrol vehicles will be charged £9/day, with some exemtions.

 

Possible Future Clean Air Zones:

Since the 25th October 2021 the London ULEZ has covered up to the North and South Circular roads, but there is now strong public support for the zone to be extended to cover the whole of the capital.

A recent survey by YouGov found that 51% of Londoners would support an expansion, compared to 27% that were against it. If this goes forward, then every vehicle that does not meet the emission criteria would be charged £12.50 per day to drive within the ULEZ region beginning in August 2023.
 

Clean Air Zones live

Since the first Clean Air Zone was started in London and expanded on 25th October 2021 to include areas inside of the North Circular Road (A406) and South Circular Road (A205), and the PHEV 100% exemption was withdrawn. Other Clean Air Zones (CAZ's) have started to operate.

Outside of London, Bath City centre has imposed a Class C (see below for classification table) Clean Air Zone since 15th March 2021. However, the decision about Bristol's Clean Air Zone which was delayed is now set for 28th November 2022.

And on 29th November 2021 the CAZ in Portsmouth went live, this is a B Clean Air Zone meaning non-compliant HGVs, buses and coaches will be charged. The introduction of Manchester's CAZ has been fraught with controversy but a new plan will be considered in the new year having just been approved by City Councillors in August 2022, see the below table for details and future clean Air Zones to go live.

26th Septmber sees Bradford CAZ go live.

If you deliver goods into city centres then Clean Air Zones will need to be factored into either your delivery costs, (Portsmouth CAZ will charge HGV's £50/day while Bath CAZ charges £100/day for an HGV to enter the zone) or into the cost of replacing your fleet with lower emission or emission free vehicles.

It is therefore likely that many companies will operate mixed fleets for quite some time as vehicles are replaced, so choosing the correct vehicle for deliveries into Clean Air Zones will become vitally important to ensure that charges are kept to a minimum. Once the parameters of your vehicles are entered into the Descartes’ routing software it will automatically select the best vehicle from your fleet when scheduling deliveries within clean air zones.

Contact us for more details on routing within Clean Air Zones or send an email to info@descartes.com

Or click here for more information on Route scheduling and optimisation 

Other cities may follow with Clean Air Zones.
The following cities are now either Live or are expected to introduce their own Clean Air Zones in the near future:

Bath	LIVE 15th March	Class C    Details
Birmingham	LIVE 1st June 2021	Class D Details
Bristol	28th November 2022	Small area of Class D    older cars £9 Trucks, buses and coaches £100
London ULEZ expanded Zone	LIVE 25th October 2021	Area inside, but excluding the north & south Circulars
Bradford	LIVE 26th September 2022	Class C
Leicester	Scrapped	Improvements in air quality meant the CAZ was no longer required.
Manchester	1st July 2022 decision  Phase 2 on hold City approves new plan	Class A -C new roads included
Newcastle	On Hold until Jan 2023	2 phases: HGV's 30th Jan 2023 | Vans & Light goods July 2023
Portsmouth	LIVE 29th November 2021	Class B non-compliant HGVs, buses and coaches will be charged £50 a day. Details here
Rotherham & Sheffield	Delayed until early 2023 Finacial help now available for vehicle upgrades	Class C

Cambridge
Liverpool	Plans on Hold
Oxford	February 2022	Zero Emmission Zone (ZEZ)
Southampton	Operational	Non Charging
Sefton	TBC
St Albans	TBC
Warrington	TBC
Wokingham	TBC
York	2022	Class A

Scotland

Glasgow	LEZ commenced 31st May 2022 (enforcement commences 1st June 2023)
Edinburgh	LEZ commenced 31st May 2022 (enforcement commences 1st June 2024)
Aberdeen	LEZ commenced 31st May 2022 (enforcement commences 1st June 2024)
Dundee	LEZ commenced 31st May 2022 (enforcement commences 30th May 2024)

Wales

CAZ's are being considered for a number of towns

Cardiff

Definately Not

Recently ruled out a CAZ

Could Coventry's CAZ be next on the list if it doesn't improve it's air quality?

Clean Air Zone Classifications

• Class A - Buses, coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs)
• Class B - Buses, coaches, taxis, PHVs and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs)
• Class C - Buses, coaches, taxis, PHVs, HGVs and light goods vehicles (LGVs)
• Class D, Buses, coaches, taxis, PHVs, HGVs LGVs and cars.

Though Euro VI compliant Buses, coaches, taxis, PHVs, HGVs, Euro VI diesel Cars and Euro IV Petrol cars are exempt from all charges.

Sign up to our Monthly Newsletter below for all the latest updates on UK Routing and Delivery best practice.