More NetZero Madness

Police cars, ambulances and fire engines will be charged to enter Bath’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) from next month. A four-year exemption for emergency service vehicles and those used by voluntary groups in support of them, in place since the scheme launched in 2021, ends on March 14. Bath & North East Somerset Council leaders insist it will affect only a limited number of vehicles because 999 organisations have had such a long time to plan for them and make changes to their fleet.

But can they afford to, these wretched things being so much more expensive, even with the current desperation to clear them from the lots? 

But a report to Avon Fire Authority committee, which meets on Friday, February 14, said more than half of the service’s vehicles were still not CAZ-compliant and it would take another six years for them all to be.

And this isn't a ULEZ-type policy - this doesn't affect private vehicles, astonishingly enough: 

Private cars and motorbikes are not charged to enter the zone, no matter how polluting they are, although higher emission taxis and private hire cars are. 

Only the Lib Dems could come up with such a half-arsed plan... 

B&NES Council deputy leader and cabinet member for climate emergency and sustainable travel Cllr Sarah Warren (Lib Dem, Bathavon North) said: “Since 2019, Bath & North East Somerset Council has worked closely alongside emergency service providers to support them in reducing the impact of the introduction of a Clean Air Zone in Bath, including a four-year exemption from charges across whole fleets. This exemption has allowed emergency service organisations four additional years to consider the steps that could be taken to prepare for the end of the exemption, including vehicle upgrade, retrofit and fleet redistribution, and we are supportive of the changes that have been made to date. 

“The council was directed by government to introduce a category C CAZ with traffic management in Queen Square following significant modelling, consultation and engagement. This was selected to achieve compliance in the shortest possible time whilst reducing the negative financial impact on low-income households, rural communities and residents living within the CAZ.”

And now you're going to penalise the very emergency services that these low-income communities rely on.