February 20, 2020
Abby Nuttall
Electric and Hybrid News
Birmingham City Council has announced that it is considering further delays to the implementation of its Clean Air Zone (CAZ).
The roll-out was expected to be in July but is now likely to be pushed back to late summer.
This is due to concerns over the readiness of the government’s vehicle checker portal. You might remember that we recently posted about a number of clean air initiatives, which included the launch of the CAZ portal.
The Clean Air Zone Portal was designed to enable drivers to check if their vehicle would be charged to enter a particular CAZ area.
This was launched on the 5th of February and since then questions have been raised over whether it is fit for the job.
The portal is also planned for drivers to be able to make payment for any CAZ area they drive through, once the first zones are introduced in England and Wales.
You can check your vehicle by following the link below:
https://www.gov.uk/check-clean-air-zone-charge
A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said the government was working to: “iron out any issues as quickly as possible but that once the issues were resolved there needs to be a period for motorists to check and prepare – and it has been suggested that this be a six-month period in fairness to all concerned. This remains in line with the previously-stated CAZ launch estimate of summer 2020.”
The council has also advised that once the issues with the site are resolved it will be six months before the CAZ is introduced, as they want to give drivers time to check if their vehicles comply with the restrictions.
For more information on local authority plans you can check the BVRLA’s CAZ map.