Businesses in Leeds have received £3.7m to help switch to cleaner vehicles ahead of this summer’s launch of Clean Air Zone charges in the city.

Leeds City Council has awarded £3.7m in financial support to businesses ahead of this summer’s launch of its Clean Air Zone charges

The ‘Class B’ Clean Air Zone in Leeds will see charges levied on older polluting buses, coaches, taxis, private hire vehicles and HGVs; it’s estimated the zone will cut the city’s carbon footprint by almost 50,000 tonnes.

The scheme was due to start in January 2020 but was delayed until the summer due to the late arrival of the Government’s online vehicle checker service, which has now gone live and enables drivers to check whether they will be affected by Clean Air Zones.

Since plans to introduce the CAZ were confirmed by the council last year – followed by the announcement of financial support for affected businesses – Leeds has already seen a significant shift towards lower emission vehicles.

New licensing data reveals that taxi and private hire operators in the city have replaced around 1,000 diesel and petrol vehicles with lower-emission hybrid, electric or LPG-powered vehicles since January 2019, while operators of HGVs, buses and coaches have upgraded or retrofitted around 170 larger vehicles.