Failed bus scheme delays clean air zone progress

A "failed" scheme to retrofit polluting buses with greener engines has had a "significant impact" on efforts to lift a clean air zone (CAZ), a council report has said.

Bradford Council was ordered to improve the city's air quality by the government in 2018, with a CAZ introduced in 2022.

According to the report, while pollution levels have dropped in most areas of the city, three areas remain above legal levels.

As a result of the failure to reduce emissions the council has been unable to meet government imposed criteria to remove the CAZ.

The report states air pollution has been brought down to legal levels in 32 out of 35 problem areas of Bradford, but shows three - Shipley Airedale Road, Manchester Road and Manningham Lane - remain above legal levels.

The report examining the cause of "ongoing exceedances" states: "Through a comprehensive study it was determined that the failure of bus retrofits has had a significant impact on our ability to meet compliance".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service the report states the government has developed a four state assessment towards lifting the Ministerial Direction.

It shows the council is currently in state one, "progressing towards achieving compliance with legal limits for air quality", with state two meaning legal limits have been achieved and state three showing legal levels have "been maintained".

The report, due to be considered by the council's Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee later, adds: "Legal levels need to be maintained for a period up to two years before the Government will remove the Ministerial Direction, which would allow the council to remove the CAZ."

Bradford received £39m from the government to implement its CAZ, which enabled it to offer grants to upgrade HGVs, taxis and buses to meet emission targets ahead of the launch in September 2022.

However, a government report in December 2024 revealed that the national retrofitting scheme had "not worked".

Due to the failure of the programme, Bradford was awarded government funding to introduce zero emission buses.

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