Keighley and Ilkley MP Robbie Moore has called on Bradford Council to rethink their proposed Clean Air Zone, citing the harm it will cause his constituents whilst simply doing their jobs.
Last year, Bradford Council announced that certain vehicles would be charged ÂŁ50 to enter Bradford City Centre. Moore has stated that this is a targeted tax, which would unfairly impact hard-working taxi drivers and construction workers from his constituency. Whilst the scheme was meant to be implemented last month, it has been delayed by Bradford Council due to a lack of facilities available to start the scheme.
A similar initiative was set to be introduced in Manchester by Andy Burnham, The Mayor of Greater Manchester. However, this has also been delayed and is now under review, with Moore calling on the leadership of Bradford Council to take a similar action. The Government recently announced ÂŁ42 million worth of funding to local authourities to fund different Clean Air Initiatives, and Moore has urged Bradford Council to utilise this funding instead of their unfair Clean Air Initiative.
Bradford Council are set to debate a motion calling for the initiative to be scrapped this week. One of the key drivers of this debate was Mohammed Nazam, the Councillor for the Keighley Central Ward.
Robbie Moore MP said: “The Clean Air Zone initiative is a disaster waiting to happen; the plan will unfairly punish hard working, such as taxi drivers, construction workers and individuals just going about their daily business.
The strategy of imposing a tax in this manner will not encourage people to change their vehicle, but will just add another daily cost to their lives. This needs to be scrapped. We have seen a similar proposal in Greater Manchester, in which Mayor Andy Burnham has now decided to review. Bradford Council need to swallow their pride and do the same, for the sake of hardworking people right across people Keighley and Ilkley who are set to be penalised by this. The Government have allocated funding to local councils to fund different clean air plans; Bradford Council must use this funding in a way which will not punish people for doing their jobs.
I am very supportive of Councillors who are pushing to stop this, and I will be following the debate this week very closely.”
Councillor Mohammed Nazam said: “Leeds City Council were due to launch the Leeds CAZ in January 2020, but after several delays the scheme was finally scrapped in October 2020 because the amount of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution on key roads was within the government’s legal limit. Leeds City Council achieved this without having to tax the hard working. Bradford council should follow and mirror the efforts of Leeds City council and come up with a revised scheme that scraps the charge for non-compliant vehicles.
At a time when hard working families are recovering from the pandemic, introducing this scheme which would mean a change of vehicle for most costing into thousands, is completely the wrong way of going about in trying to reduce NO2 levels. Next week I am seconding a motion to the council to scrap this scheme and come up with another that does not tax our hard working citizens across the district.”
