Agenda item

A report on Bath Clean Air Plan is attached. There will be a presentation on this at the meeting, slides are also attached.

Chris Major, Assistant Director – Highways and Transport, introduced the report and gave a presentation which covered the following:

·  Feasibility study

·  Government funding package

·  COVID 19 impacts

·  Infrastructure delivery

·  Mitigations

·  Next steps

Panel members asked the following questions and made the following points:

Councillor O Brien raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  The presentation shows that levels of traffic have almost reached the levels of last year at this time. Have you allowed for more people using cars due to Covid (people not able to share cars and maybe reluctant to use public transport)? The officer confirmed that there is a reluctance to use public transport so people are using cars more. He explained that N02 (Nitrogen Dioxide) levels are near where they were before the lockdown period. He further explained that some cities have seen larger reductions and that it can depend on the geography of the city and type of street. He stressed the need to continue to monitor air quality levels into the winter.

·  Is the financial assistance scheme just for BANES residents? The scheme is not limited to BANES residents.

Councillor Dr Kumar raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  Is there a start date for the scheme and will we be the first to implement a CAZ? It will be early 2021 but there is no exact date yet. We are likely to be one of the first to implement a CAZ in the country.

·  How will we manage if the Government funding for bus upgrades is not enough? The funding package is in line with that given to other cities, we are relatively comfortable that we have enough funding in place – also the risks reduce as we move towards delivery.

·  Can we recommend a weight limit for Cleveland Bridge?  This scheme is not linked to Cleveland Bridge.

Councillor Craig raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  There are press stories about other cities dropping plans for their CAZ, I am pleased we are continuing. Sheffield and Leeds have decided not to continue with their scheme.

·  Will you be monitoring traffic flow elsewhere so that we can be sure that we are not moving the problem elsewhere. Yes we will be monitoring traffic flows and will deal with impacts.

·  Regarding the scheme for people to make their vehicles compliant, what happens when people are waiting to get the work done? We will recognise that there may be a time lag so, if people have placed an order they will be exempt from the scheme. We are also working with charities eg. Foodbank vehicles.

Councillor Bromley asked how the ‘last mile’ delivery will work. The officer explained that there is an existing model for this – couriers transfer packages onto cargo bikes which do the ‘last mile’ of the delivery journey in the city.

Councillor Davies raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  We are down £2million in funding from what we had originally requested, what is the impact of this? We have received £9.4 million and we can start to use this.

·  What are the number of businesses we can help with these schemes? 600 businesses have registered for the scheme so far. We will get the scheme out to as many businesses as possible.

Councillor Johnson raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  Where are the local distribution hubs? There is no confirmation on this yet.

·  Will the scheme be looking at anti idling? The scheme will be concentrating on the CAZ.

Councillor Hirst raised the following points. Officer responses are shown in italics:

·  What is the situation with the funding? We have negotiated with the Government to develop the best package of funding which in line with other authorities.

·  Will you monitor rat runs such as Oldfield Park? We will monitor traffic flow around the city and any funds generated by the scheme will be put back into sustainable transport. We need to be reactive to any problems that come up and understand the reasons behind them. We are not trying to prevent businesses from getting on.

Councillor McCabe asked about exemptions – the officer responded that exemptions are a mixture of local and national issues.

The Panel RESOLVED to note the progress outlined in the report.