Those travelling through the city of Portsmouth will start to see cameras being installed within the Government-mandated Clean Air Zone (CAZ) from this week, ahead of it going live in November.
The CAZ is being introduced in the city to address harmful levels of air pollution but it will come at a cost – to the drivers and operators of HGVs, coaches and other non-compliant vehicles.
Portsmouth City Council is working with contractors Colas and telecoms company Siemens to start putting up 39 cameras that automatically recognise number plates. This information will be used to check whether a vehicle needs to pay the clean air zone charge. These cameras will only check vehicle number plates and point in a fixed direction towards the traffic, so they do not look into properties. The images they take will not be watched, and the cameras are not part of the council’s network of CCTV security cameras.
Getting the cameras installed now will help ensure they are tested and working correctly before the zone launches in full in November. It will also provide an opportunity to send out letters to drivers ahead of the CAZ coming into operation. This will raise awareness of the zone, and let drivers of older, more polluting vehicles know that their vehicle could be charged when the zone launches.
Private cars and vans won’t be charged to drive in the Portsmouth CAZ, but could be charged in other clean air zones in the UK. Only vehicles that don’t meet Euro 6 emissions standards (if diesel) or Euro 4 emissions standards (if petrol) will be charged.
The most polluting ‘non-compliant’ vehicles will be charged daily for driving in the zone. These non-compliant vehicles include heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), buses, coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles. Non-compliant taxis and private hire vehicles will be charged £10 a day to drive through the zone, and non-compliant HGVs, buses and coaches will be charged £50 a day.
Councillor Dave Ashmore, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Environment, said:
“I want to reassure residents in the zone that these cameras will only be used to operate the clean air zone that the government says we have to have to tackle air pollution in the city. I hope the letters we send out ahead of the zone going live will help businesses and residents prepare for the changes ahead.”
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The government-mandated CAZ will cover an area in the South West of the city, including the city centre where pollution is highest. Portsmouth International Port is not included within the CAZ but the Wightlink ferry terminal is, since the majority of traffic travelling to the terminal travels through the exceedance points.
People can see a map of exact camera locations, check their vehicle registration number to see if they will be charged, and find more information about the Clean Air Zone at www.cleanerairportsmouth.co.uk.
Portsmouth City Businesses RIP
Portsmouth is a choice place anyway so cleaning the air might just evolve into cleaning the whole place
“I want to reassure residents in the zone that these cameras will only be used to operate the clean air zone that the government says we have to have to tackle air pollution in the city.
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yeah right – i can see the headline now …”the criminals were fortunately caught in their van by the clean air zone cameras as they entered the city and are now under arrest”
And it will make no difference whatsoever to air quality, despite the ridiculous charges to the owners of the few vehicles concerned, the cameras will cost council tax payers to keep the enviromental window dressing band wagon going. another criminal waste of time and money.
So if 15000 cars a week the total amount of cars that need to pay says fine I will pay and not one car that’s out of the zone stays out.. As its optional. What good has that done to the clean air?? Nothing But what a cash cow it is. Except that all the rates from shops that are no longer trading will be lost and cars and people will Not want or have any reason to come in to the area. So you won’t need the camera’s in future. Also what about ships exhaust smoke what charge for the royal navy
The wrong fix. Recent extreme weather events show that climate change is here and we need to act now. Making people in cars pay more will not help. What we need is free public transport. At the moment it’s cheaper to own a second car for going to work than buying a train season ticket. Two fixed railway links to the mainland will do away with all the diesel burning passenger boats and their very poor service. Imagine just jumping on a train to pop to Southampton or Portsmouth. Instead we have to juggle with booking the boat and hoping it’ll run that day.
Shame they can’t do something about the air quality on the Island. Especially in the colder weather from all the smoking chimneys. Every year end up with bronchial trouble from having to breathe in all the smoke from so many people using wood burners and the like.