The subject of poor air quality has become increasingly prevalent in Birmingham over the last decade and it was no surprise to see that the city, along with five others outside of London, was mandated by the European Commission and the Government to introduce a Clean Air Zone by 2020.
The Zone was due to go live in the summer, however, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Birmingham City Council have put the start date back to June 2021 in order to allow businesses and residents to recover from the fallout of COVID-19. Click Here for more details
The Council’s proposal, which rests on charging heavily polluting vehicles for entering into parts of the city centre (covering all of the roads within but not including the A4540 middle way ring road - see map), is likely to impact a number of GBCC members that operate in and travel through the area.
Birmingham City Council opened a formal consultation in regards to their plans in the summer of 2018 and the GBCC formally submitted its consultation response in August 2018.
The following tasks were undertaken in a bid to collate feedback from our members which has been used to inform the consultation response:
GBCC CONSULTATION RESPONSE TO THE BIRMINGHAM CLEAN AIR ZONE
When the Zone was due to go live this year, throughout 2019, the GBCC formally partnered with Birmingham City Council in a bid to raise awareness of the Zone amongst the business community and to ensure firms are fully prepared for the advent of the Zone.
A subsequent survey conducted amongst our membership last year revealed that:
As a result, the GBCC has partnered with Birmingham City Council to produce the Business Clean Air Zone Toolkit. The online document provides a raft of information on:
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE TOOLKIT FOR BUSINESSES
In a bid to raise awareness of the Zone amongst the business community, the GBCC has held a number of briefing events with representatives from Birmingham City Council and private sector partners – click here and here for more information
The GBCC is planning to host further events in the run-up to the start of the Zone in order to help businesses fully prepare for the start of the Zone – full details will be shared in due course.
Paul Faulkner, CEO of the GBCC and Councillor Waseem Zaffar OBE, Cabinet Member for Birmingham City Council – Transport & Environment produced a podcast outlining how firms can prepare for the Zone and the steps in place to secure further support