Clean Air Zones Are Punishing the Poor, Here’s a Better Way Forward

As the Chairman of ECO: Electric Car Organisation, I am passionate about reducing pollution

by shifting drivers away from polluting petrol cars towards emission-free Electric Vehicles.

However, I feel that charging drivers up to £60 a day to drive through “clean air zones” is

fundamentally flawed, as it penalises lower-income earners with older cars, who are least

able to make the switch. It also encourages longer journeys on the outskirts of the zone, as

people seek to avoid entering the clean air zone. 

I am proud that the Manchester public revolted against the imposition of a Manchester

Clean Air Zone ( I still see the abandoned signage every day) modelled on London, because,

unlike London, the public transport infrastructure does not provide a realistic alternative to

lower-income drivers who have been abandoned by the government during our transition

to EVs.

However, these Clear Air Zone have been implemented up and down the country in:

Bath

Birmingham

Portsmouth

Bradford

Bristol

Tyneside (Newcastle & Gateshead)

Sheffield

So, if your town’s name starts with a “B”, be worried, as the lovely Green Party, which has

suddenly become an alternative political force given the complete lack of leadership from

Labour or the Conservatives, is seeking to expand these zones even further and has targeted

my old hometown of Brighton to be next.

It’s my view that in the current economic climate the last thing we need is crude tax or

penalties for driving petrol cars that hit the poor and don’t change behaviour. We need

instead to incentivise the move to emission-free Electric Vehicles (EV’s) by introducing Tax

subsidies for lower earners to allow them to purchase the second hand EVs that are now

coming into the market 6-7 years after the first wave of EV adoption, whilst converting local

car parks into overnight charging hubs for people who live in flats.

Our lovely Government already offers substantial tax subsidies via Salary Sacrifice Schemes,

enabling the wealthy to switch to EVs. These tax breaks make EV leasing 28-42% cheaper,

and this can be boosted to 50-60% if the business hands back its Employer NI and VAT

savings. I believe that councils across the country should focus on promoting these schemes

to local businesses and incentivising them with business rate reductions to install EV

chargers in their office car parks, which can be used by both employees and residents out of

hours.

Focusing on taking advantage of central government tax breaks to incentivise the move to

EVs via employers, since it costs them nothing, is the obvious route forward. However,

many don’t yet offer Salary Sacrifice Schemes to their own employees, let alone promote

their use to local businesses.

I also believe that the lack of a robust local charging network is preventing the adoption of

EVs, but again, local councils are not promoting the central government grants of up to £350

per installed charger to local businesses.

Local councils also need to consider how they can create fleets of Electric Taxis, by providing

the funding required to buy large volumes of second-hand EVs to operate these fleets, with

the council then charging a per-mile driven fee to cover their investment and vehicle

insurance.

In summary, we don’t need Clean Air Zones policies from Local councils, but we do need the

intelligent use of central Government funding and a practical approach on a local basis to

driving EV adoption. Creating “Clean” Taxi fleets that have low operating costs and target

the heaviest polluting vehicles where you live is a simple and practical policy, but few

councils have woken up to it, let alone consider how to create electric charging hubs in the

centrally located car parks they own.

The EV Revolution requires a localised adoption policy as well as central Government

support.