Nether Edge & Sharrow Winter Newsletter
Author: Graham Wroe
Gleadless Valley and Heeley Newsletter Winter 2022/3
Gleasdless Valley and Heeley Newsletter Winter 2023
Clean Air Zone starts today
The Clean Air Zone became operational this morning. Here Cllr Douglas Johnson explains 20 important things you need to know about it.
1. The Clean Air Zone charges for buses, HGVs and vans come into force on Monday 27th February. The CAZ has been several years in the making and was formally approved in principle by the (Labour & Green) Co-operative Executive in October 2021.
2. Sheffield Green Party has campaigned for action on air pollution for many years. Air pollution contributes to premature deaths and chronic respiratory illness every year in Sheffield. We often quoted the figure of 500 early deaths a year. Due to progress in vehicle emissions over several years, this is more likely to be in the region of about 360 early deaths every year in Sheffield. It is still a public health issue. It especially affects children, whose lungs are still developing.
3. The CAZ is a legal requirement because of the government’s failure to address illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide. It is not about carbon emissions or pollution from particulate matter but is in line with reducing these too.
4. The aim of the CAZ is to incentivise upgrading polluting vehicles. There is a carrot – millions of pounds in grants for businesses – and a stick – charges for vehicles which pollute.
5. The CAZ does not include charging private cars, motorbikes or SUVs. Sheffield Green Party argued that the council should at least have included a proposal to charge cars when consulting on it in 2018. There is no prospect now of charging cars under the CAZ.
6. You can check online if your vehicle is liable to the CAZ charge. The vehicle checker is at https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones.
7. Most buses have been retrofitted and will not be subject to the charge. The council obtained grants to upgrade 292 buses and there was enough left over to do another 16. This means fares will not increase because of the CAZ.
8. Many HGVs and vans will not have to pay the charge. All Diesel vehicles manufactured since September 2016 will be Euro 6 standard and will comply. All petrol vehicles manufactured since 2006 will also comply.
9. Black taxis (Hackney carriages) will not be charged until June.
10. Drivers of older, polluting vans or private-hire taxis can apply for an exemption until June. This is at no cost, so it makes sense to do.
11. There are millions of pounds available in grants for businesses to upgrade vehicles. grants to contribute towards the cost are typically £4,500 towards a van, £6,000 towards a hackney cab and £3,500 towards a private-hire taxi.
12. So far, over 2,500 grant applications are being processed. Drivers will be exempt from any charges until their application is decided. So, it makes sense to apply.
13. There is going to be a scheme for retrospective grants. This will help anyone who upgraded their vehicle since October 2021. This isn’t live yet but is worth being aware of.
14. If you have to pay charges, you have to go online to the government website. You can pay the charge 6 days before or after your date of travel. Part of the reason is another incentive for businesses to upgrade to less polluting vehicles.
15. Enforcement is by cameras on the inner ring road. This will be with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).
16. The Inner Ring road has been chosen because Sheffield’s geography means it controls the city’s road system. This is important so that the benefits of the scheme are felt in all areas of the city, not just the centre. Tackling air pollution is an equality issue. Without the ring road being included, the air pollution would not be brought back within legal limits soon enough.
17. There is a risk of van drivers trying to rat-run through residential streets to avoid charges. However, these may not be economical for businesses in terms of extra fuel or time taken. The Star published an article promoting all the rat-runs they could find but this just makes it clear they aren’t going to be very effective except for a very small number of destinations.
18. There are bound to be some teething issues as the system goes live.
19. The CAZ won’t be making a profit. The charges from the CAZ will pay for the cost of operating the system – it creates several new jobs for people – and any surplus will go back into more air pollution measures.
20. Full details of the CAZ scheme are available at www.sheffield.gov.uk/cleanair
City Ward Newsletter February 2023
Green Pages- New feature on the website
Today we have launched “Green Pages“.
On this page, you will find links to small businesses and co-ops, campaigning groups, craftspeople, tradespeople, local community groups, charities and organisations that can help you in Sheffield. The “I need help” page is useful when you have a problem and don’t know where to turn. You will also find links to other Green Party sites. Shopping in a charity shop is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint as the clothes sector is responsible for about 10 per cent of greenhouse emissions and 20 per cent of wastewater worldwide. The Transport section will help you plan your journeys, Pubs and Bars will help you plan a great night out and Cafes and Restaurants will help you find the perfect place for something to eat.
We hope this feature will help you to use local businesses and avoid multinationals and supermarkets where possible, as this keeps money flowing in our local economy.
You can upvote your favourite links and they will be displayed higher in the list.
This is work in work in progress and we are aware that we will have missed many links. To suggest a new link, please complete this form.
The facts about the Clean Air Zone and how it will improve our city.
This article first appeared in Yorkshire By-lines
Sheffield’s clean air zone (CAZ) finally comes into force on 27 February 2023, after many years of government and council delay.
When the Greens first became part of the Sheffield City Council administration in May 2021, I was the executive member of climate change, environment and transport. One of my most pleasing moments was to see the council finally make a firm decision on introducing the CAZ in October 2021.
Why take action
Tackling air pollution is important: it contributes to an estimated 500 people dying early every year in Sheffield. In the long term, children are most affected by air pollution whilst their lungs are developing.
Air pollution remains at illegal, not just unsafe, levels in many parts of Sheffield, especially in the city centre where car ownership is at its lowest. Motor traffic is a principal source of nitrogen dioxide, the pollutant that is the target of clean air zones. Therefore, the national approach is to target old and polluting vehicles.
The UK government was dragged through the courts kicking and screaming over many years before it accepted it had to act in the face of illegal measures of pollution. It did so by ordering a number of cities with the worst pollution to implement clean air zones. They are now up and running in Birmingham, Portsmouth, Bristol, Bath, Bradford, Newcastle and Gateshead. Leeds decided to introduce a CAZ in principle but achieved legal levels of pollution without needing to charge vehicles. Manchester was on track to deliver a CAZ but has failed to do so under political pressure.
Design of the clean air zone
As one bus service manager said to me recently, it’s a crazy scheme that charges public transport but not the increasing number of massive SUVs we see on the city’s roads.
Unfortunately, the framework is tightly controlled by central government. All the same, it was disappointing that Sheffield Council’s previous administration announced it would not charge private cars under any circumstances. Green councillors said we should at least have consulted on the possibility of charging private cars which make unnecessary journeys.
However, one small intervention is designed to reduce the number of cars in the city centre. Councillors voted for a new bus gate on Arundel Gate, to reduce the amount of through traffic in an area of the highest concentrations of pollution. This will also offer advantages to smooth running of buses.
Grants for local business
With the government mandate comes millions of pounds for businesses to upgrade vehicles. This is a very welcome chance to put more support towards small businesses and self-employed taxi drivers. All vehicles need replacing sooner or later. Taxi and van drivers can now apply for grants so they avoid the clean air charge.
Grants have also paid for buses to be retrofitted to make them cleaner. Some 292 Sheffield buses have been treated so far and there is enough money to treat a further 16 vehicles. This means that none of the Sheffield bus fleet, barring exceptions, will be liable for the clean air charge. Fares will not go up because of the CAZ.
Electric vehicles
Electric vehicles will not be charged. However, the council has dropped the very demanding requirement that taxis would have to be electric to avoid the charge, in favour of a much more achievable Euro 6 Diesel standard, which includes any vehicle manufactured since 2016. Petrol vehicles manufactured since 2006 will meet the Euro 4 standard and will be exempt. This dealt with many of the genuine anxieties held by taxi drivers.
The inner ring road
The clean air charge applies to vehicles inside or on the inner ring road. Some people have said the ring road itself should be exempt, but this is to miss the point about reducing pollution across the whole city.
The geography of Sheffield means that the inner ring road gathers in almost all traffic trying to cross the city. The ring road is effective as a defined location to identify and enforce the charge with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). By covering a larger number of vehicles, the CAZ will have more effect on vehicles – and therefore pollution levels – across the city. It also widens access to grants for a greater range of businesses.
Displacement
Some opponents of the scheme have argued that pollution will be pushed into residential areas around the city. Whilst there will be a small degree of displacement, it will be limited because it doesn’t apply to buses (on fixed routes), taxis (bound to have to travel through the city centre at some point of the day), private cars (not charged at all), any goods vehicles delivering to the city centre, any distribution vehicle where time is of the essence, exempt vehicles or any vehicle newer than seven years old.
As more polluting vehicles come off the roads, the charges paid will dwindle. In the meantime, the receipts will fund the system and any surplus will go to further air quality improvements. The CAZ is a step change in the ongoing process of cleaning up the air.
The future
Of course, this is not the end. The CAZ aims to tackle illegal levels of air pollution, measured as an annual average of 40µg/m3 of nitrogen dioxide. However, the World Health Organization’s new guidelines now recognise levels of 10µg/m3 as harmful. We need to keep on improving our air quality and our health.
More information on the clean air zone, exemptions, charges and grants is available here.
Cynical Government enforces voter id.
If you want to have your say in this May’s council elections, and in the next general election, then you’ll need to bring photo ID with you. This is due to a cynical move by the government designed to keep working-class people, young people, homeless people, and ethnic minorities away from the ballot box. Many people in these groups don’t have photo ID and may be unwilling or unable to spare the money to obtain them.
Voter impersonation is incredibly rare, with just one conviction in the 2017 general election. This is not a pressing issue, but rather a convenient cover story for the Conservative government to try to push away voters who are less likely to support them.
Why would the government do this? Voters over 70 are three times more likely to vote Conservative than young people. If you’re in any doubt about the government’s intent, you need only look to London Oyster cards. The 60+ Oyster card will be accepted as valid photo ID, but the virtually identical 18+ Oyster card, and Young Persons Railcards, will not be accepted.
A list of acceptable ID cards is here. You can apply for free photo ID by the April 25th deadline to vote in the council elections on May 4th. Register to vote by April 17th and apply for a postal vote by April 18th via www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/voting
Don’t forget to bring your ID when you vote at a polling station from now on. Don’t let the Tories get away with this attack on your right to vote, which must be rolled back once they are voted out of office.
Ash Routh
Council election candidate, Walkley Green Party
Greens support the strikes.
Sheffield Green Party Councillors and members were out in force today showing their solidarity with striking teachers, train drivers, civil servants and university lecturers.
Toby Mallinson, who is District Secretary for the National Education Union and the candidate for Hillsborough in the next local elections, was interviewed on Look North. He said “The turnout is absolutely fantastic, I believe we’ve got over 6000 people here. There’s a huge amount of support. Pay has dropped over 20% in the last ten years. It’s vital that we stop the haemorrhaging of talent.” Toby Mallinson helped organise the 28 pickets of schools across the City. A day of lost education is regrettable, but nothing compared to a whole childhood of underfunded education.
Cllr Maroof Rouf said “Teachers on strike are not just fighting for better wages and working conditions, they are striking for the future of our children and the education they deserve. Teachers are the champions of education, it is humbling to see them using their voices and actions to ensure every single student receives the quality education they deserve”
One of the biggest cheers of the day was for a 7-year-old pupil who got on the microphone and said “Rishi Sunak stop being so tight and pay our teachers better!“
Peter Gilbert, Green Party candidate for Ecclesall said “As a care worker within a Special Educational Needs (SEN) school I fully back those on strike and believe that only through collective worker action can we win the reforms needed to get social care and education back on track.”
Support Crowdfunder to Stop Mottram Bypass
A crowdfunder is open for a few more days for a legal challenge to this link road scheme which would be very damaging to the climate. More locally, it would lead to an increase in car and HGV journeys across the Peak District and worsen the almost permanent congestion in Glossop. But now the Government has given it the green light. Sheffield Green Party submitted an objection before it was granted planning consent by the Government. Please support CPRE Peak District and South Yorkshire‘s legal challenge to this scheme –Support the Crowdfunder here.
Cllr Douglas Johnson said,
“Heavy traffic through Mottram, on the Sheffield to Manchester route, has been a long-term issue. But rather than more road-building and private car mileage, we would prefer to see the money spent on better public transport links between the two cities. There must be an incentive for more people to travel by rail and not by private car.”
Sheffield Atmospheric Observatory
Sheffield GreenParty member Graham Turnbull is putting on an exhibition about air quality, air quality limits and air quality monitoring which opens on February 1st. The Eventbrite link is here.
Over the last four years Graham has set up equipment all over Sheffield to monitor PM2.5’s. These tiny particles are very dangerous as when we breathe them in they can penetrate deep into our lungs. The exhibition will help you understand why this is such an important issue for Sheffield. Please book your place early to avoid disappointment.