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The recently announced T-Charge is the latest in a long line of emissions-related legislation for London.
A heritage including the Low Emissions Zone and Congestion Charge set the precedent for the capital's war on fumes, while impending measures such as the Ultra Low Emissions Zone, now tipped to arrive a year earlier than first thought, proves 'The Smoke' is serious about shaking off its grubby image.
You could be forgiven for thinking that the rest of the UK's air quality has taken a back seat, but the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has been quietly fostering a series of clean-air schemes, which are due to take effect in five other cities by the turn of the decade. Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby, Leeds and Southampton will introduce clean-air zones by 2020, restricting certain vehicles that do not meet specific emissions standards.
"The standard for the clean-air zones will be Euro6 and above for diesel and Euro4 and above for petrol," said Toby Poston, head of external relations at the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association. "It will be a cordon charge, so 'as you go in or out', like the congestion zone in London. Local authorities have got to build it into their wider transport plan, take responsibility for it and produce the right signage."
"Enforcement notices will start from 2019, but we're looking at developing some of the signage from this year," said Chris Hammond, cabinet member for transformation projects at Southampton City Council. "We're trying to get people to start thinking about the clean-air zone being live from now, rather than from 2019. At the moment, we don't know how much the fines will be, but DEFRA is working with the other cities that have clean-air zones and they want to apply some consistency across the different areas."
The uniformity of Euro4 and Euro6, regardless of location, is good news, but it isn't quite that straightforward, as clean-air zones will be categorised from A to C depending on the type of vehicle to which they relate: A is buses, coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles, B adds HGVs, and C includes vans and minibuses. Level D extends to cars, and can be implemented at the discretion of the local authority, but none of the five cities have done so.
"Businesses need to start planning now," said Anne Shaw, assistant director for transportation and connectivity at Birmingham City Council. "They need to audit the vehicles they've got and work out the things that they need to change."
The difficulty, though, is the Government's forced return to the drawing board regarding its environmental policy, which could herald a series of new and stricter rules.
"There will be revisions to the National Air Quality Action Plan because it was contested by environmental legal activist Client Earth, and the ruling is that the current plan is insufficient," added Shaw. "While the current plan still stands at the moment, the Government has been required to revise it, and the updated version is likely to be published around April/May."
"This is all slightly up in the air because the Government's got to come back with a new air-quality plan," said Poston. "There will be a new consultation this spring, with some revised, probably slightly harsher, plans. We don't know what that's going to be, but there are signals that there will be a big review in light of the VW scandal, and that car and van emissions are probably worse than most people realised, due to the discrepancies between real-world and published CO2 and NOx figures.
"If you look at the current clean-air zones, vans are only mandated in Birmingham and Leeds, not in the other three cities, and cars aren't mandated in any of them. You could expect that to change, bearing in mind the sorts of signals we're getting from DEFRA that they need to take a slightly more stringent view."
Fleets operating new cars can probably bank on remaining in the clear, but those running anything older or larger that may not have been replaced by 2019 really need to pay attention. There is, however, a retrofit solution designed to bring vehicles up to the necessary levels.
"There is a technical solution that's being developed," said Shaw. "It's a retrofit for exhaust pipes - like a sort of filter. It's just waiting for Government to say 'yes, that is going to be sufficient to bring vehicles to the required standard'.
"The problem is that whilst the Government delays making a decision and giving it the green light, garages that are able to do conversions aren't gearing themselves up, so there's nowhere, at the moment, for businesses to get those things done."
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