Southampton consults on city-wide CAZ

AIR QUALITY

Southampton City Council is consulting on establishing a council-wide clean air zone (CAZ) covering buses, coaches, heavy goods vehicles, taxis and private hire vehicles. 

Vehicles failing to met the minimum emission standards (Euro 4 petrol/Euro 6 or VI diesel) for the CAZ would have to pay a charge for driving within the zone. Southampton’s provisional charges are the same as in London’s proposed Ultra-Low Emission Zone. Non-compliant buses, coaches and HGVs would have to pay £100 a day and taxis and private hire £12.50. Exemptions and discounts could apply.

The GMB trade union has criticised the decision to include hackney carriages (taxis) in the scheme, saying the cheapest electric taxis cost about £70,000.  

Southampton’s scheme is a category B CAZ, the classification being based on the range of vehicles covered by the scheme. The city was one of five identified by the Government in 2015 as needing to implement a category B zone to achieve compliance with EU limit values on nitrogen dioxide. The Government revised the requirement last year, requiring the cities to conduct a feasibility assessment to determine what class of CAZ is required and the geographical extent of coverage.  

The CAZ must be implemented by the end of 2019. Southampton expects the Government to fully fund its installation, with running costs met from enforcement revenues. The zone will be enforced using automatic numberplate recognition cameras.

Neighbouring New Forest District Council was one of the authorities ordered by Government last year to conduct an air quality assessment. The work has concluded that the council area will be compliant without intervention by 2020, with measures implemented by Southampton delivering improvements in the New Forest.