GREEN MEANS GO
LEEDS HANDS £1.5M OF CLEAN AIR GRANTS BACK TO GOVERNMENT
More than £1.5m to help reduce air pollution has been handed back to the Government this week by Leeds City Council. Leeds-Live reports that the money was originally part of £29m of funding given to the authority to introduce an clean air charging zone - including a network of number plate recognising cameras and a grant and loans scheme to help taxi/PHV drivers update to eco-friendly vehicles. Despite the scheme being announced in an attempt to combat dangerous levels of air pollution in the city, it was dramatically scrapped in autumn 2020,
due to a supposed improvement in the district's air quality. Some of the money remained available to help support upgrades of taxis, buses and HGVs to greener models. This week, council decision-makers agreed to return the unspent £1,538,269 to central Government, meaning around £27.5m was spent on a clean air scheme which never happened. The plans would have seen high-emitting taxis, HGVs and buses charged a fee for entering the city centre and parts of north Leeds, but had been beset with delays since they were first signed off by the Government in 2019.
Around £18m of the money was earmarked to go to taxi/PHV and HGV drivers in loans and grants to help them upgrade to greener vehicles. On making the announcement about the scheme’s cancellation last year, the council said it would be able to keep and re-purpose the camera infra- structure that had been installed to monitor and enforce the zone. It added grants and interest-free loans would still be available to help local businesses switch to cleaner vehicles as well as to provide free licensing costs to drivers of less polluting taxi and private hire vehicles.
DENBIGHSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL SELECTED TO TAKE PART IN GREEN TAXI PILOT
Denbighshire is hosting the only North Wales pilot of a zero emission green taxi scheme. The Rhyl Journal reports that the Welsh Government has set a target of de-carbonising the taxi fleet entirely by 2028 and Denbighshire County Council is one of a select few local authorities in Wales taking part in the pilot. It will operate a 'try before you buy initiative', allowing hackney licensed taxi drivers to try the vehicle free of charge for 30 days, including free elec- tric charging at specific locations in Denbighshire, vehicle licensing, break- down cover and insurance. Denbighshire has four wheelchair- accessible Nissan Dynamo E-NV200 taxis to use as part of the pilot. The associated charging infrastructure will also be installed, this will consist of four 50kw rapid chargers with two being located in Rhyl and two in Prestatyn.
Cllr Brian Jones, Lead Member for Waste, Transport and the Environment,
OCTOBER 2021
said: “We are delighted to be taking part in this Welsh Government-funded pilot which will help taxi operators discover the benefits of greener zero emission vehicles. “There are ‘rapid’ charging points due to be installed in North Denbighshire and we are seeking enquiries from operators based in the North of the county for the first phase of the pilot scheme. “This is one of a number of projects we are undertaking on electric vehicles as a council which will create healthier surroundings and reduce carbon
emissions in Denbighshire.” In 2019 the council declared a climate change and ecological emergency which included a commitment to make the authority net carbon zero by 2030 and enhance biodiversity across the county. The council’s Climate and Ecological Change Strategy was adopted in 2021. The local authority is also developing other electric vehicle initiatives includ- ing expanding the council’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure to enable the council to operate less diesel vehicles and increasing the number of low emission fleet vehicles it uses. Work will also include installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure for the public to use to charge their electric vehicles in eight council owned public car parks. Taxi operators are being encouraged to take part in the pilot. Visit:
www.denbighshire.gov.uk/electric-taxi or
electrictaxi@denbighshire.gov.uk
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