With the government’s new aim to stop the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040, towns and cities around the country are looking at ways to reduce traffic and pollution. Oxford claims to be leading the way with its aim of being the world’s first zero-emissions zone. However, is the promise really all it seems?
(Credit – Lewis Clarke)
The scheme
Oxford’s proposal aims to slash air pollution, which has risen to above legal limits in some areas due to the amount of harmful nitrogen dioxide in the air. The plans are currently undergoing consultation. They involve prohibiting any non-zero emission taxis from the centre of the city, followed by light commercial vehicles and then buses by 2020.
Critics of Oxford’s rather grandiose plan to host the world’s first zero emissions zone might well latch onto the fact that banning traffic from a city centre is not really a viable way to reduce emissions – not unless our cities are prepared to roll out fleets of electric taxis, buses and delivery lorries in the very near future. Additionally, the map of the proposed scheme’s boundaries (PDF) demonstrates the rather small scale of the initial zero emissions zone, which covers just a handful of streets.
Nevertheless, Oxford is going ahead with the consultation for its ‘world first’ plan. The city aims to have a zero-emissions zone that will cover all non-electric vehicles, including HGVs. This zone would expand to cover the whole of the city centre by 2035, according to plans created jointly by the city and county councils. This would result in a 75% reduction in the levels of nitrogen dioxide by the time the scheme completes in 2035, as most of these pollutants come from vehicle exhausts.
Changing position
The plan comes after Oxford was one of 11 cities to breach the safe limit for toxic particles known as PM10s in a study by the World Health Organization last year. It also breached the limits for PM2.5 particles.
The city council has secured some £500,000 worth of government funding in order to install electric charging points for new taxis, along with a further £800,000 to create 100 electric vehicle charging points for residents. However, officials admit more will be needed to deliver the planned zero-emissions zone.
Problems around the country
Many towns and cities around the UK are facing a similar problem, but the Oxford model doesn’t work for everyone. Part of the reason for this is that the university city already has a high percentage of pedestrianised areas where no vehicles travel. This means there is less traffic in the centre of Oxford than in many other cities of a similar size.
Other cities have already tried. London operated a scheme until 2015 that aimed to create a low emissions zone. Founded in 2008, the scheme saw vehicles that failed to meet a low-emissions standard having to pay to enter the city. The aim was to dramatically reduce the polluting gases and particles that Londoners were being exposed to daily.
Unfortunately, the scheme had little impact. The predicted 10% drop in oxides that was expected by 2012 didn’t happen and, three years later, the air quality had not improved at all.
Understanding the problems
According to experts, one of the problems was that the scheme came alongside the growing realisation that diesel vehicles were much more polluting than everyone thought. The scheme has now been replaced with the Ultra Low Emission Zone, along with a plan to convert all double-decker buses in central London to hybrids and all single decker buses to zero emissions by 2020.
Yet this doesn’t deal with the problem of taxis, delivery vehicles and HGVs, which are still polluting the air space. The Oxford model of simply banning these vehicles certainly wouldn’t be feasible in London. It seems that further work is needed before we have a model that can work in all of the UK’s cities and help improve the air quality for everyone.
What else can we do to reduce air pollution in our cities? How long will it be before we have a plan in place that’s both realistic and effective? Leave a comment to share your views.
As far as I can see from the map, the central zone is already mostly the pedestrian precinct which only allows vehicles out of normal shopping hours.
Very difficult, where we are, Maldon, you have to crawl through double double parked 16th century, semi-one way streets to get to inadequate and expensive car parks. What they need is easily accessible car parks on the edge of town, from where the centre can be reached by foot or bus. Stop hordes of vehicles getting gridlocked anywhere near the town.
Maldon has increased the width of the footpaths all over the place, at the expense of road quality. There is a plaque on the high Street, celebrating the widening of the road but it’s back as it was in Henry VIII’s day.
Has Oxford decided how the shops etc are going to get their deliveries? has Oxford spoken to all those premises with oil fired heating and told them they have to turn it off? Has Oxford decided to ban buses and their big diesel engines from the central area?
Blind stupidity of the highest order.
Lets all walk everywhere make deliveries in cities by horse and cart and provide special transport for the disabled who are unable to walk I know many drivers would have to learn to walk again as now they just abandon their car as near as possible to where they want to be so that they do not need to walk at all Electric powered buses are used on many town centre services
I used to live in Oxford — where the council has always been very anti towards motorcars — but all they’ve actually done is increase the traffic congestion, thereby increasing pollution, as we all crawl around-and-around the incredibly slow one way system looking for a parking space. Ridiculous.
Yes, you could use the Park-and-Ride (and I’d be happy to do so) but until they provide vehicle Secutity in the car parks, it’s too risky to leave a vehicle in a car park where the massive number of thieves in the area know exactly how long they’ve got to break-into or steal your car.
It’d be great to have traffic free cities, but only if the complete package of parking security is properly thought out.
Same here in Manchester Rick, Bus lanes and cycle lanes cut the available space for vehicles slowing them to a stop. And where are all the buses? stuck in the same traffic and unable to reach the bus lanes. Politicians of all sides and levels are total planks and not fit to run a bath!
The biggest polluters by far are the HGV’s nationwide, if the government really wishes to stop all pollution they need to scrap HS2 and reinstall all the rail network scrapped after Beeching. Many towns and cities had direct rail connexion where rail links existed behind city centre shops
Actually, it was well known that diesel vehicles are highly polluting but John Prescott decided to go ahead anyway as it burnished the Labour party’s green credentials. The simplest solution is to raise the fuel duty escalator enough to discourage c. 5-10% of vehicles off the road and use the revenue to cut NI for the poor.
Are we talking about pure electric vehicles or hybrids?
Hybrids have two powers sources, so costing much more to maintain, especially as you have to pay main dealer labour rates, as very few independent garages will touch hybrids.
I thought Oxford already had Stalinist purges on private cars, so is the problem caused by buses?
I expect not to be outdone, Cambridge will be next.
If you want to stop delivery vehicles, then stop buying stuff f!!!!!!!!!!
Really it is just another facet to the on-going ‘War on the driver’. First it was leaded petrol, then it was un-leaded petrol, too much sulphur, now diesels and some are saying it is electric vehicles because of all the harmful brake/tyre dust and so it goes on.
As far as I can see from the map, the central zone is already mostly the pedestrian precinct which only allows vehicles out of normal shopping hours.
Very difficult, where we are, Maldon, you have to crawl through double double parked 16th century, semi-one way streets to get to inadequate and expensive car parks. What they need is easily accessible car parks on the edge of town, from where the centre can be reached by foot or bus. Stop hordes of vehicles getting gridlocked anywhere near the town.
Maldon has increased the width of the footpaths all over the place, at the expense of road quality. There is a plaque on the high Street, celebrating the widening of the road but it’s back as it was in Henry VIII’s day.
Has Oxford decided how the shops etc are going to get their deliveries? has Oxford spoken to all those premises with oil fired heating and told them they have to turn it off? Has Oxford decided to ban buses and their big diesel engines from the central area?
Blind stupidity of the highest order.
Lets all walk everywhere make deliveries in cities by horse and cart and provide special transport for the disabled who are unable to walk I know many drivers would have to learn to walk again as now they just abandon their car as near as possible to where they want to be so that they do not need to walk at all Electric powered buses are used on many town centre services
I used to live in Oxford — where the council has always been very anti towards motorcars — but all they’ve actually done is increase the traffic congestion, thereby increasing pollution, as we all crawl around-and-around the incredibly slow one way system looking for a parking space. Ridiculous.
Yes, you could use the Park-and-Ride (and I’d be happy to do so) but until they provide vehicle Secutity in the car parks, it’s too risky to leave a vehicle in a car park where the massive number of thieves in the area know exactly how long they’ve got to break-into or steal your car.
It’d be great to have traffic free cities, but only if the complete package of parking security is properly thought out.
Same here in Manchester Rick, Bus lanes and cycle lanes cut the available space for vehicles slowing them to a stop. And where are all the buses? stuck in the same traffic and unable to reach the bus lanes. Politicians of all sides and levels are total planks and not fit to run a bath!
The biggest polluters by far are the HGV’s nationwide, if the government really wishes to stop all pollution they need to scrap HS2 and reinstall all the rail network scrapped after Beeching. Many towns and cities had direct rail connexion where rail links existed behind city centre shops
Actually, it was well known that diesel vehicles are highly polluting but John Prescott decided to go ahead anyway as it burnished the Labour party’s green credentials. The simplest solution is to raise the fuel duty escalator enough to discourage c. 5-10% of vehicles off the road and use the revenue to cut NI for the poor.
Are we talking about pure electric vehicles or hybrids?
Hybrids have two powers sources, so costing much more to maintain, especially as you have to pay main dealer labour rates, as very few independent garages will touch hybrids.
I thought Oxford already had Stalinist purges on private cars, so is the problem caused by buses?
I expect not to be outdone, Cambridge will be next.
If you want to stop delivery vehicles, then stop buying stuff f!!!!!!!!!!
Really it is just another facet to the on-going ‘War on the driver’. First it was leaded petrol, then it was un-leaded petrol, too much sulphur, now diesels and some are saying it is electric vehicles because of all the harmful brake/tyre dust and so it goes on.