Clean Air Zone Sheffield: Drivers cough up more than £3m in first six months

Drivers paid fees and fines worth £3.35m in the first six months of Sheffield’s Clean Air Zone, new figures show.

They paid out 162,748 times - some 95,615 in charges, totalling £1.1m, and 67,133 in fines, worth £2.28m.

But Sheffield City Council has yet to decide what to spend the money on.

Income must be used to maintain the zone, with the rest put towards ‘sustainable transport or cleaner air schemes’.

A council spokeswoman said: "Options for the use of any surplus will be presented to the Transport, Regeneration and Climate Committee for its consideration. Officers are in the process of developing a governance procedure for these projects and a date for presentation to committee will be confirmed."

It also too soon to judge whether it has cut pollution.

She added: "In order to assess the true impact of the Clean Air Zone on air quality the council will require long-term data of at least a year.”"

The CAZ launched on February 27. It charges older vans and cabs £10-a-day, and buses and lorries £50. The boundary follows the inner ring road.

In the first six months there were 77.67m journeys in the zone, with 1.3 per cent - 1.02m - eligible to be charged, the council says. There were 13.82m unique vehicles in the CAZ in this time. 

Temporary exemptions for small vans and black cabs ended in June. But in the longer term, the council expects CAZ income to fall as drivers upgrade to cleaner vehicles, some supported by finance schemes.