Portsmouth CAZ is now live

Portsmouth Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is now live. 

The Portsmouth CAZ is a class B zone meaning that buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles and heavy goods vehicles that do not meet the euro 6 or euro 4 standards will be charged to enter the zone. 

Drivers of ‘non-compliant’ vehicles will be charged £10 a day to drive through the zone, and coaches and heavy goods vehicles will pay £50 a day. 

There are some specific vehicle exemptions, including for emergency service and military vehicles. You can check if you’ll be charged on the government webpage: https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones

Drivers of private vans, cars and motorcycles will not be charged, no matter how old the vehicle is. 

Last Friday, the air quality improvement team held an Air Quality Improvement Showcase that brought together a range of air quality schemes from across Portsmouth City Council as well as the rest of the city.

Representatives from First bus, Stagecoach and Pedal Portsmouth were in attendance to talk about ways people can travel around the city without adding to air pollution.

Southsea Cycles attended to talk about their community e-cargo bike scheme where Portsmouth residents can hire a cargo bike for £10 a day. There was also a Ford Mustang Mach-E, to show people what the future of electric vehicles looks like.

Cllr Dave Ashmore, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Environment, said: ‘Today is the day the clean air zone launches, but we should be speaking about air quality every day. There are so many ways we can all make a difference to the air quality in our city. It might be using public transport more, ditching the second car and joining a car club, making your next vehicle electric, or walking, catching the bus or renting an e-scooter for your next short journey.

‘As a council we’re working on creating the best possible conditions for these changes, from installing on-street electric car charging points and bicycle parking to extending the rental e-scooter trial and prioritising walking and cycling routes for residents.’