The city’s air quality needs to meet legal limits of air pollution in the shortest possible time. While the council’s preferred approach is to encourage less polluting travel behaviour, uncertainties surrounding the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and people’s travel behaviour mean they must consider additional measures, in case these are needed to achieve compliance. The new options the council are consulting on are:

• 2020 option 1: a Clean Air Zone covering a small area of central Bristol in which non-compliant (older, more polluting) types of HGVs, buses, coaches, LGVs, taxis and private cars would be charged to drive in the zone. This is referred to as a small CAZ D.
• 2020 option 2: a small CAZ D surrounded by a larger charging zone (referred to as a medium CAZ C). Vehicles would be charged to drive into the CAZ D in the same way as in Option 1. In the surrounding CAZ C, older, more polluting types of HGVs, buses, coaches, LGVs, taxis BUT NOT private cars would be charged to drive into the zone.

The council is required by government direction to start implementing a CAZ C with a small CAZ D by 29 October 2021, unless any further evidence demonstrates that this is not necessary in order to deliver legal air quality compliance.
 
To find out more and give your feedback, visit: www.bristol.gov.uk/caz2020. The consultation runs until Monday 13th December.