G Heading
A warning has been issued that Derby may need to have a pollution charge in the city centre be- cause the council is not
introducing
newer and less pol- luting taxis quickly enough. The Derby Tele- graph reports that councillors amend- ed a policy that would have intro- duced
cleaner
vehicles by January 2021, instead giving taxi drivers until 2025 to upgrade their vehicles. They also voted to introduce an age limit on vehicles of 15 years, instead of ten years for diesel
and 12 years for ZEC ULEV vehicles. The Conservative- led authority want- ed to make it a con- dition of its new taxi strategy that the city’s
vehicles
should be cleaner and meet the Gov- ernment’s clean air minimum standards by January 2021. But at a meeting of the Conservative- chaired
licensing
committee, Liberal Democrats, Brexit Party and Labour combined to alter the two key proposals. Richard Antcliff, council director of public protection and
Streetpride, wrote to councillors
REEN MEANS GO
WARNING THAT DERBY DRIVERS COULD FACE POLLUTION CHARGE IN CITY CENTRE
In his letter Mr Antcliff added: “We were
awarded
£640,000 for elec- tric taxi charging hubs but were told we would not receive funding if the taxi age and emissions were not addressed
by
on the licensing committee: “It is not known what
Government’s res- ponse will
the be
towards the new policy position but this decision is likely to leave us extreme- ly vulnerable to a Government direc-
IPSWICH COUNCIL SET TO LIMIT AGE OF TAXIS AND PHVs
Ipswich Borough Council
introduce a new taxi licencing
is set to policy
which would set a maximum age on vehicles to combat harmful emissions. The Ipswich Star reports that
the
council was set to meet on Wednesday 18 September to make a decision on the policy, having been recommended to approve it. If given the go- ahead, the policy would run until 2022 and would place a limit on the age of vehicles used as a taxi, with the aim of reducing NO2 emis- sions in the town by 57 per cent.
48
It also sets guide- lines for taxi drivers, including a code of conduct and a dress code. By 2020, all existing licensed private hire vehicles must be less than 15 years old when their licence is renewed. Hackney carriages and WAVs must be less than four years old when first pre- sented for licensing. The policy states: “The age limit is crit- ical to the level of pollutants emitted, therefore to improve air quality, standards relating to age will be introduced.” The policy goes on to say in 2025, the maximum age for
PHVs will be further reduced to ten years. A consultation on the plans was launched in Decem- ber 2018, and ran until February this year. Ipswich drivers have warned the policy would result
in
financial hardship. Ipswich Station Taxi Tenants Association objected, saying ‘a lot drivers face an uncertain future’ if it goes ahead. A spokesman said: “We accept that the world is getting greener and we agree with this. “But it’s the unwork- able timescale and the immediate costs we are objecting to.”
tive and/or require the business case to be reviewed. “One of the options Government
can
use is to impose a Clean Air Zone daily fee for each journey into the city cen- tre.” It is not yet known what
the exact
details of any such scheme could possi- bly be in Derby.
changing over to cleaner taxis. “We do not know if we will have to pay the money back.” Mr Antcliff said the council was told on May 13 that it need- ed to deliver on its business case sub- mission, which in- cluded imposing measures to deal with an area of high nitrous oxide in Stafford Street, as well as the changes to taxi fleets. Mr Antcliff said: “It
was never our inten- tion to introduce a daily charge for Derby and we were hopeful of avoiding this given our robust business case. Taxis represent a small number of vehicles but they are to be found in large num- bers in city centres and often leave their engines running. “They have been identified by the Government as key pollutants in city centres.” He also pointed out that, in the light of the full council decision to declare a climate emergen- cy on May 22, the decision by the the licensing commit- tee “appears to be in direct conflict with this”.
PORTSMOUTH CABBIES FACE CHARGE IF CAZ GOES AHEAD
Taxis and PHVs could be hit with a charge for driving in the city if a CAZ is brought in. The News reports that
Portsmouth
City Council has drawn up proposals for a zone. However, the government will enforce a zone on Portsea Island if the council fails to prove by October that it can reduce air pollu- tion. Drivers face a daily charge of bet- ween £8 and £20. Cllr Dave Ashmore, the council’s envi- ronment
cabinet member, said: “Our
analysis has shown that a class B CAZ, with additional mea- sures, would achieve the level of compli- ance needed. “Many people just can’t
afford to
replace their old car. Although the gov- ernment could still impose a class D zone on our city, we need to continue with the additional measures to im- prove our air quality, such as the extra trees being planted, improvements for cycling and the anti- engine idling cam- paign.”
The class B zone would mean a daily charge for older, more
buses,
polluting coaches,
taxis, PHVs and heavy goods vehi- cles. The council’s modelling shows this is likely to meet the required air quality standards in the city by the 2022 deadline. Petrol vehicles that are Euro 4 or newer, and diesel vehicles that are Euro 6 or newer, would not be charged. Plans were to be considered on Sep- tember 9.
OCTOBER 2019
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96
