Leeds clean air zone grants for taxi and private hire vehicles top 300

While it is not yet clear when the controversial zones will be implemented, an announcement on an expected start-date is expected to be made in the coming weeks.

Plans for the CAZ would see older models of buses, taxis and HGVs travelling in areas around North Leeds and the city centre pay a congestion charge. The fees would be administered via a £6m camera network which would identify number plates of cars which didn’t meet green requirements so that drivers could be charged.

As part of the agreement, taxi and private hire drivers would be able to apply for a grant of up to £1,500 to go towards purchasing environmentally friendly vehicles.

Leeds City Council’s taxi and private hire licensing manager Andrew White said: “We are up to 300-and-something loans and grants successfully awarded. We need to make sure we talk to them rather than remember.

“It would be upwards of 300 and maybe 400.”

Mr White was later asked about when the Clean Air Zone would be implemented. He added the council ‘does have a date in mind’. It is understood an announcement will be made in the coming weeks.

The council added more than 100 further applications for loans and grants for taxi and private hire drivers are curently pending, and that funding is still available.

The proposed clean air charging zone (CAZ) was originally announced in 2018, and would charge high polluting taxis and private hire vehicles up to £12.50 a day, while non-eco-friendly HGVs and buses would pay £50 a week for coming into the zone.

Private hire and taxi industry chiefs had previously complained that most drivers owned their own cars, so would not be able to afford to buy expensive new vehicles, warning many drivers would simply pay the fees, and have to charge passengers more.

Leeds’s clean air charging zone is part of work to improve the city’s air quality, following a ruling from the European Union.