Birmingham City Council has today (June 1) launched its new category D Clean Air Zone (CAZ).
After London and Bath, Birmingham is the newest city to launch a CAZ in a bid to drive down illegal and harmful levels of air pollution.
The Class D CAZ applies to all vehicles that do not meet the minimum emissions standards of Euro 6 for diesel and Euro 4 for petrol.
Restrictions apply to all roads within Birmingham’s A4540 Middleway Ring Road, except the ring road itself. The CAZ is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including bank holidays.
The council confirmed that it will introduce the zone through a ‘soft launch’. The council will not require drivers to pay the daily fee and they will not pursue enforcement until June 14, 2021.
Cllr Waseem Zaffar, cabinet member for transport and environment at Birmingham City Council, said: ‘After more than two years of planning, I’m delighted to launch Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone. This is a bold move that will help to address some significant health inequalities in our city. This is also an important step in encouraging people to re-think how we all move around the city.’
ClientEarth lawyer Katie Nield added: ‘Dirty air has been putting people in serious danger for too long. A Clean Air Zone in Birmingham is a major step forward in tackling the region’s toxic air problem and making the city a healthier and better place to live.
‘It’s important to remember that these schemes are put in place for a reason: to protect people’s health. Road transport is the biggest source of illegal pollution in our cities and CAZs are proven to be the most effective way to quickly reduce this pollution.
‘Birmingham has stepped up to the challenge and is doing the right thing. So it is essential that the UK government now plays its part. It needs to provide help and support to people and businesses – particularly those on low incomes and small businesses – so they can move to cleaner forms of transport.’
Every single Euro 6 diesel car and van not lorry emits illegal levels of toxic carcinogenic Nox and particulates as manufacturers did not fit proper fully functioning adblue systems on their vehicles. They range between 4 and 20 times over the limit.
This massively increases cases of
Emphysema
Asthma
Cancer
Strokes
Heart disease and attacks
Early deaths.
Euro 6 diesels should NOT be allowed into ANY clean air area. They are only allowed because our weak politicians did not think people would countenance banning them.
There are 13 million such vehicles in the UK destroying the air quality wherever they go.
Manufacturers should be FORCED to retrofit them but our govt is too weak for that and anyway eating out of their hands.
When the govt asked Nissan if they wouldn’t mind retrofitting all their illegal stinking filthy diesels which are 18 times over the legal limit they flatly refused as have ALL OTHER MANUFACTURERS.
This in itself is a scandal that absolutely nobody are doing ANYTHING about.