Clean Air Zone: Sheffield City Council hails two thirds drop in 'polluting' vehicles

The number of 'polluting' vehicles driving through Sheffield has fallen by up to two thirds due to the Clean Air Zone, the council says.

Private Hire Vehicles are 96 per cent compliant now compared to 77 per cent before the CAZ was launched and Light Goods Vehicles are 84 per cent compliant compared to 59 per cent before.

The authority compared traffic in October this year with November 2022.

Overall the number of polluting vehicles using the CAZ has fallen by nearly two thirds, according to Coun Ben Miskell, chair of the transport, regeneration and climate committee.

The zone launched on February 27. It charges older vans and cabs £10-a-day, and buses and lorries £50. The boundary follows the inner ring road. Failing to pay incurs a £70 fine.

Coun Miskell said “Hundreds of people in Sheffield die prematurely each year due to air pollution, cleaning up the quality of the air we breathe around Sheffield is rightly one of our top priorities and this data shows that motorists are helping by moving to cleaner vehicles in response to the Clean Air Zone.”

There was still money available to help upgrade to cleaner vehicles and the authority encouraged people to apply, he added.

In November, Coun Miskell said the CAZ had raised £3,285,600 in charges up to the end of September but the scheme had cost £4,258,746 to install.

Drivers paid out 162,748 times - some 95,615 in charges totalling £1.1m, and 67,133 in fines, worth £2.28m.