Birmingham City Council underlines commitment to improving air quality ahead of world car-free day

Since launching three years ago, the Clean Air Zone has proved successful in deterring the highest-polluting vehicles from entering the city centre, with non-compliant vehicles now making up just 4.5% of the total number of vehicles entering the city compared to 15.2% in June 2021.

With the Clean Air Zone making a positive impact in the centre of Birmingham, there is also promising progress across all areas of the city. A dedicated air quality monitoring programme of potential ‘hotspots’ in Birmingham has found that all monitored sites are within the annual mean air quality objective. This ongoing air quality monitoring project, which is into its third year, committed to identify any locations where concentrations of nitrogen dioxide might exceed the annual mean air quality objective.

The Clean Air Zone has made progress in reducing the number of the highest polluting cars on our roads, but the data from the Zone shows is that the total vehicle numbers in the city remain at similar levels to three years ago.

With Birmingham’s 2031 Transport Plan and broader ambitions around net zero being largely dependent on reducing the number of vehicles being operated in the city, ahead of Car Free Day on Sunday, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Councillor Majid Mahmood, underlined the council’s commitment to achieving this objective – supported by the Clean Air Zone.

He said: “Our transport plan is clear that we need to have fewer cars on the city’s roads, but we recognise that encouraging people to give up their cars requires public and active travel infrastructure that’s up to the task – and we’re proud that the Clean Air Zone is making a difference to that end.

“The use of the revenues generated by the scheme are determined by the legislation used to create the scheme and the high-level spending priorities of the CAZ Charging Order. This means that net surplus revenues from the Clean Air Zone are feeding directly into our transport plan, enabling us to work in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority to support schemes related to active travel, that improve public transport infrastructure and manage demand in the city centre.”

Projects funded by Clean Air Zone revenues include a trial of hydrogen buses, upgrades to the University train station and improvements to stations on the Camp Hill line, as well as a number of projects within the Cross-City Bus scheme, the expansion of the Car Free School Streets programme, and development of the next phase of the Birmingham Cycle Revolution.

Clean Air Zone revenues are also supporting work to monitor air quality, with the council set to expand its programme of installing monitoring equipment in schools a key component in this. These monitors come in tandem with accompanying education resources and lesson plans helping to inspire a new generation of Clean Air champions. Work in this area is underpinned further by projects like ‘Car Free School Streets’, which seeks to reduce emissions during rush hour

While motor vehicles are the biggest contributor to poor air quality in Birmingham, there are other factors that play a part in producing emissions. With the council’s environment and transport portfolios now combined, work will continue to tackle all sources of fine particulate matter.

Councillor Mahmood said: “As the new Cabinet member for transport, adding to my existing environment portfolio, I’m keen to ensure that everything I do is with a view to improving air quality to ensure the people of Birmingham can reach their full potential.

“While cars are by far the biggest cause of poor air quality in our city, we’re proud to highlight all ways of improving air quality from sources other than motor vehicles. For instance, we’re encouraging residents to move away from the tradition of setting off fireworks during celebrations, and to consider greener ways to heat their home. It’s all about making small changes that can make a big difference to the air we breathe.”