Clean Air Zone review risks health gains - campaign

Campaigners have warned that scrapping Bradford's Clean Air Zone (CAZ) could put public health improvements at risk.

Clean Air Bradford said proposals by the city's new Reform UK-led administration, including removing charges for some vehicles, could undo progress in cutting air pollution.

The authority has confirmed it is reviewing the CAZ, which has been in place since 2022, with Reform council leader Stephen Place previously saying it was working to "facilitate the earliest revocation of this ministerial direction".

Campaign group spokesperson Darren Parkinson, said: "We are already seeing benefits which should be protected, not put at risk."

The CAZ was introduced after Bradford Council was ordered to improve the city's air quality by the then-Conservative government in 2018.

Clean Air Bradford said research linked to the Born in Bradford programme - a project tracking the health of more than 60,000 Bradfordians - found cleaner air associated with the CAZ led to about "732 fewer GP visits each month for respiratory and cardiovascular conditions".

This included a 25% drop in respiratory cases and a 24% reduction in heart-related visits.

Parkinson said the scheme was "first and foremost a public health measure".

He said: "Pollution levels are falling, cleaner vehicles are replacing older ones and Bradford's air is getting cleaner."

Place, who was elected in May, had previously told the BBC he was worried that charging had a negative impact on businesses and also created problems when vehicles used smaller streets to avoid charging zones.

Clean Air Bradford said the council's own monitoring had "recorded some of the lowest nitrogen dioxide levels ever recorded in the district" since the CAZ was introduced, with traffic returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Dave Robison, from the group, said: "The fact that the CAZ is working is not an argument for scrapping it. It's an argument for keeping it in place until the job is finished."

The council's Air Quality Annual Status Report in 2025, said the number of locations breaching legal air-quality limits had fallen from 35 to two and had contributed to an uptake of cleaner vehicles.

The council has not yet set out when the review will conclude or whether the scheme will be retained.

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