Newcastle City Council has revealed it has retained more than £13M of grant funding expected to be distributed to drivers upgrading to cleaner vehicles. This comes following the introduction of the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in January of this year, within which commercial vehicles are charged a daily rate for passing through the zone.
The Head of Transport, Pamela Holmes, told councillors earlier this month that she was disappointed by the number of grants issued, stating how she “would like to administer more.” As of September 2023, just £1.82M of the £15M available had been distributed to drivers.
Ms Holmes blames the figures on a series of issues at the council, mainly noting how staffing shortages have created a backlog of applications. The council received 2,500 applications covering 3,475 vehicles, however Holmes revealed that only 490 applicants were successful in securing funding.
Older taxi and minibus models are charged £12.50 per day to enter the CAZ, while coaches, buses and HGV’s are charged £50 per day. While the grant scheme has attracted much interest from owners of such vehicles, Ms Holmes cites a lack of evidence in many applications as another obstacle in the way of getting money out.
Explaining this, she stated that "we are having a bit more toing and froing on that than we anticipated.”
Despite the issues surrounding grant funding, Newcastle City Council claim that the CAZ is improving air quality in the city. Figures to support this are yet to be published, however Ms Holmes application for another £8m of government funding is a promising sign of the council’s commitment to the CAZ.
With more funding, hopes are that drivers from surrounding areas including South Tyneside, Sunderland, and Durham will also be supported to upgrade to greener vehicles.