World Car-Free Day and our commitment to improving air quality

Since Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone launched, the percentage of the highest polluting cars has reduced from 15% in June 2021 to just 4.5% in July 2024. As we approach World Car-Free Day, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Councillor Majid Mahmood, reflects on the impact of our campaign to improve air quality – and takes a look at its role in the council’s approach to transport and its wider ‘Route to Zero’.

The Clean Air Zone launched in June 2021 with the aim of tackle the risk to public health caused by poor air quality. Our strategy? To specifically address the impact of the air pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, of which vehicle exhausts are overwhelmingly the biggest source.

Three years on, it’s a mission that’s on track.

Our latest progress report, published last October, showed that the Clean Air Zone has helped to reduce nitrogen dioxide in the city centre by 17% when compared to pre-Covid levels.

Key to achieving this reduction has been the impact of the Clean Air Zone in deterring the highest-polluting vehicles from entering the city centre. Non-compliant vehicles made up more than 15% of total traffic when we launched three years ago. This has reduced to just 4.6% in the most recent June 2024 data.

However, the impact of the Clean Air Zone stretches far beyond reducing emissions in the City Centre. A dedicated air quality monitoring programme of potential ‘hotspots’ in Birmingham has found that all sites are within the annual mean air quality objective. This ongoing air quality monitoring project, which is set to continue for a third year, committed to identify any locations where concentrations of nitrogen dioxide might exceed the annual mean air quality objective.

This monitoring was carried out using diffusion tubes to take samples on a monthly basis over a calendar year, a method recognised by Defra to provide reportable data, with the approach externally reviewed.

It extends our ongoing work to monitor air quality, with our mission to install year-round air monitoring equipment in schools a key component in this. These monitors come in tandem with accompanying education resources and lesson plans helping to inspire a new generation of Clean Air champions. Our work in this area is underpinned further by projects like ‘Car Free School Streets’, which seeks to reduce emissions during rush hour, driven by readings from council monitoring data showing that the school gates are among the most polluted parts of the city.

The school sensor programme has the co-benefit of providing monitoring data for fine particulate matter, recognised as a key pollutant in a range of adverse health outcomes such as heart disease, lung diseases and cancers. These monitors will help provide more information on this pollutant which is emitted from both vehicle exhausts and non-exhaust sources such as brake dust and tyre wear. In addition to this, we are pleased to be working alongside the Combined Authority in extending our particulate monitoring network through the addition of a reference grade instrument at our air pollution monitoring site at Dartmouth Middleway on the ring road, where it will provide important data on this key pollutant.

While removing the most polluting vehicles is a key part of our aim to improve air quality, from the very beginning we have been mindful of the financial and logistical impact that this may have on certain groups and individuals, in particular those who live and work within the Clean Air Zone’s boundary. Among the financial support packages on offer is our relaunched vehicle scrappage scheme, which offers residents and workers grant packages of up to £4,000, made up of a mix of cash and public transport credits.

While we have made progress in reducing the number of the highest polluting cars on our roads, the data shows is that total vehicle numbers in the city remain at similar levels to three years ago. Ultimately, our transport plan is built around reducing this total number of all vehicles used in and around the city.

World Car-Free Day is a great day to consider strategies aimed at doing just this, but, it's valid to point out that encouraging people to give up their cars if public and active travel infrastructure isn’t up to the task – and we’re proud that the Clean Air Zone is making a difference to that end.

The use of the revenues generated by the scheme are determined by the legislation used to create the scheme and the high-level spending priorities of the CAZ Charging Order. This means that net surplus revenues from the Clean Air Zone are feeding directly into our transport plan, enabling us to work in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority to support schemes related to active travel, improve public transport infrastructure, manage demand in the city centre.

Projects funded by Clean Air Zone revenues include a trial of hydrogen buses, upgrades to the University train station and improvements to stations on the Camp Hill line, as well as a number of projects within the Cross-City Bus scheme, the expansion of the Car Free School Streets programme, and development of the next phase of the Birmingham Cycle Revolution.

And it doesn’t stop at that. We’re proud to highlight all ways of improving air quality from sources other than motor vehicles. For instance, we’re encouraging residents to move away from the tradition of setting off fireworks during celebrations, and to consider greener ways to heat their home.

For me personally, it’s heartening to see the progress that’s been made, but I recognise there’s still lots to do.

As the new Cabinet member for transport, adding to my existing environment portfolio, I’m keen to ensure that everything I do is with a view to improving air quality to ensure the people of Birmingham can reach their full potential.

Let’s keep it going.

Article published: 20 September 2024