Cambridge is in the middle of a consultation that may result in vehicle users being charged to drive into the city. The earliest this is likely to occur is 2027-28, unusually for Cambridge we will be a long way behind many other cities on this one. London introduced a congestion charge in 2003 and the results have been very impressive indeed with less congestion, lower emissions and safer roads. The ultra-low emission zone in London is due to be doubled in size from August 2023 going out as far as the M25 in parts and charging £12.50 per car.
Birmingham’s clean air zone went live across the city centre in June 2021, it operates across 24hrs and charges £8 for a car. This week Bristol introduced its clean air zone, also 24hrs, across much of the city and also charges £9 per car. This follows on from Bath and Bradford who have introduced similar schemes and in the next few months Sheffield and Newcastle & Gateshead will also do the same.
Many of these schemes have widespread exemptions and I suspect we will see similar ones here, but not for electric vehicles, since they still contribute towards congestion. I have met the GCP team many times, I have read the ‘Making Connections’ documents and I regularly speak to my fellow residents who live in the city and to many businesses and the general feeling is that something must be done about congestion and air quality and that this scheme, in principle has lots of merits.
One thing I would like to see in the interim is a pause in the various other road restriction projects currently underway such as Silver Street closing, the awful new junction changes at the Royal Cambridge Hotel, the narrowing of East Road, the impending closure of Mill Road and the rollout of more resident parking schemes. None of these are offering an incentive to drivers in terms of extra buses and more park and rides, it is all a collection of sticks that are starting to hurt low paid workers trying to access the city, that they have to drive into to work since there is no suitable public transport alternative.
