Agenda item

To consider a report seeking approval to consult on a new option for measures to improve air quality while outlining measures to mitigate the impact on businesses affected by a charging clean air zone; and to note that both Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council are being asked to approve recommendations as set out the report.

Cabinet had previously agreed the Authority’s approach in responding to government’s legal direction to improve air quality in the shortest possible time. Consultation feedback on different options earlier this year along with refined technical information had enabled Newcastle, Gateshead and North Tyneside councils to develop a revised proposal which, it was felt, more closely met their wider ambitions while also responding to the specific requirements of the legal order.

Cabinet received a report which sought approval to consult on a new option for measures to improve air quality while outlining measures to mitigate the impact on businesses affected by a charging clean air zone. The revised options that had been developed by the three local authorities to meet the legal requirement to achieve compliance on local roads in the shortest possible time were as follows:

·      A smaller Clean Air Zone D covering Newcastle city centre only;

·      A Low Emission Zone combined with tolls on city centre bridges, as set out in the original consultation; and

·      A Clean Air Zone C charging older HGVs, buses, vans, taxis and private hire vehicles in Newcastle city centre only, combined with access restrictions to and from the Central Motorway between New Bridge Street and the Swan House roundabout and lane restrictions on the Tyne Bridge with the aim that this would be linked to a major maintenance scheme on the Tyne Bridge. In this option there would be no charges on private cars.

As more than one package of measures now appeared to achieve compliance in 2021, the ability of the three authorities to select the option most consistent with their ambitions on fairness, public health improvement and minimising economic impact had been improved. In the short term this was considered to be the newly defined option, which was:

·      a smaller charging Clean Air Zone covering only Newcastle City Centre affecting non-compliant buses, coaches, taxis (Hackney Carriages and private hire vehicles), heavy goods vehicles and vans from 2021;

·      changes to the road layout on the Central Motorway, that would prevent traffic from merging on and off the slip lane between the New Bridge Street and Swan House junctions;

·      lane restrictions on the Tyne Bridge and Central Motorway. These restrictions would be put in place to support air quality work but the authorities were asking government for £40m funding to ensure essential maintenance works took place at the same time, minimising disruption by aligning these much needed roadworks to update the ageing bridge with the need to implement lane restrictions for air quality; and

·      changes to the local road network in Newcastle and Gateshead to reflect the Tyne Bridge restrictions and ensure public transport could run reliably.

This package was considered to have a smaller economic and traffic rerouting impact. It also enabled the authorities to target mitigation on a smaller group of users which made a package of mitigation measures more deliverable given the tight timescales to which the authorities were working.

Both Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council were being asked to approve recommendations as set out the report.

It was proposed that the three authorities would consult affected stakeholders and residents over a period of six weeks, before bringing the outcome of consultation and a final business case for the preferred option to each authority for approval.

The delivery of the measures required would be undertaken throughout 2020: they were anticipated to be in place by January 2021, in order for the scheme to become active.

Effective delivery of the preferred option was dependent on Government action on a number of key issues, including:

       i.    providing the necessary resources for implementation and mitigation in a timely fashion;

      ii.   confirmation of available funding in order to allow local authorities to procure both required new systems and relevant mitigation;

     iii.    provision of a national taxi and private hire database; and

    iv.    provision of central systems to allow payment and processing, in order that local authorities could deliver their own Clean Air Zones.

Cabinet considered the following options: toapprovethe recommendationsset outinparagraph1.2ofthe report, or alternatively not to approve those recommendations.

Resolved that (1) affected stakeholders and the public be consulted for six weeks on a Clean Air Zone Class C and associated traffic management measures in order to deliver compliance with legal limits for NO₂ in the Authority’s administrative area in the shortest possible time;

(2) affected stakeholders and the public be consulted on possible mitigation measures to minimise the impact of the aforementioned Clean Air Zone and traffic management schemes;

(3) the Chief Executive be authorised, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, to approve the final form of the appropriate consultation materials; and

(4) the outcomes of consultation, together with a Final Business Case for the preferred option, be submitted to a future meeting of Cabinet for final approval.

(Reasons for decision – this will permit progress towards satisfying the legal direction issued by the Government requiring local authorities to create plans to address air quality issues on specific road links.)