This is of course a classic example of 'solve one problem and create another'. The concern is that those vehicles that now have to pay end up using alternative routes such as the A4 to the A350 (that will be the HGVs) or the A363 through Bradford-on-Avon (HGVs are banned from Bradford-on-Avon due to the weight restriction on the town bridge)..

Edited by Xileno on 17/03/2021 at 18:29

Drivers may be fined up to £120 for breaking new driving law introduced today (msn.com)

I came across this and thought it might interest one or two of you, Will this gov stop at nothing to ram electric cars down our throats.

If you had read the Bath Council website you would see that it clearly states:

"Charges do not apply to private cars and motorbikes, even if they’re used for work.

Bath has a class C clean air zone, which means that charges only apply to taxis, private hire vehicles, vans, light goods vehicles, buses, coaches and heavy goods vehicles that do not meet the required emission standards."

Bath is a beautiful city, unfortunately its streets were built well before the internal combustion engine was invented or harnessed for transport purposes and are invariably congested - it seems to me to be a very balanced response to the challenge of aiming to keep pollution low.

I'd like to agree that it is a more balanced policy than that undertaken by London, but I suspect this a 'foot in the door' policy to see if anyone kicks up a stink.

It wouldn't surprise me if the City Council were to extend the policy to all vehicles rapidly (say soon after elections) if there was little blow-back from local voters to the initial phase. If they did, do that, then the city centre would die out as a shopping area.

I know from personal experience using park & ride facilities that itthey're generally fine for commuting or tourist travel, but not for people with several bags of shopping/large items to take home.

Rather than putting such items in your car's boot and then resuming shopping, you'd have to lug them around all day and find space on the bus - not so easy if others are doing the same and it's busy.

Given that HGVs cannot (yet) be hybrids, or that they would make little difference and cost the owners a small fortune to buy, I would hope that the rules would just be that for regulars in the zone (say that drive more than X days inside it), they would need to be running a vehicle that meets EU6 or suchlike.

Then at least it would allow occasional visitors by delivery lorries and vans that weren't as 'green' (but not that bad) with the owners having to shell out small fortunes for new vehicles, as their impact on the air locally would be minimal. If not, could easily see some business and people being priced out of the area through increased costs - especially as they wouldn't be offset by other things the council would do.

Problem for Bath is the. Geography.

It is in a bowl and the road network is A4 through and the A46 down from the M4 and the roads south, so all that pollution tends to stay in the bowl, and as the congestion is really horrible at times, it is not a pleasant place to be.

But I don't agree that it is a stealth tax. I

Edited by _ORB_ on 15/03/2021 at 19:01

Why pollution was linked with CO2 rather than NOx in the first place?

Diesel cars emitted less CO2 but more NOx which is more harmful to health.

Ever heard of Adblue and it's effect on NOX?