Road tolls and Low Emission Zones in North Wales – Transport …

While the report is full of ideas to encourage people off the roads with better services and active travel options it also looks at ‘Discouragement Measures’. These are things to deter people from using their cars if there are alternatives available.

There were two main things looked at – road charging with tolls for drivers using a stretch of highway and Low Emission Zones, which tend to be used in cities or large towns to penalise the drivers of higher emission vehicles.

This is what the Transport Commission had to say on introducing these in North Wales.

Road charging: What the report says

An independent review of road user charging was undertaken in 2020 by Derek Turner CBE, on behalf of Welsh Government. The report considered the potential merits of introducing road-user charging across Wales and concluded that it could be an effective measure to deliver a more equitable, efficient, and sustainable transport system.

As Wales is not all the same, either geographically or in relation to its transport issues, the report identified that different approaches may be required across the country to road-user charging. The report subsequently recommended that a National Policy Framework for equitable road-user charging be developed for Wales as a priority, to ensure that it works for different areas and the entire population. This has led to a commitment with the National Transport Delivery Plan to develop a policy for fair road-user charging by 2026.

We have considered the potential for introducing road user charging in North Wales to assist in encouraging people to use sustainable transport modes, and we acknowledge the role road user charging can play in raising essential revenue for supporting the sustainable transport network, and therefore is likely to play a part in transport across the region in the future.

We agree with the findings of the Turner Report and suggest further consideration is given to road-user charging in North Wales.

Cardiff County Council has recently announced plans to implement a road user charging scheme, and there is an opportunity to follow and learn from this first plan for Wales – while also recognising the differences between the south-east and north of Wales. For example, as north Wales has so many cross-border journeys, detailed consideration would need to be given to ensuring any cross-border charging is equitable.

Low Emission Zones: What the report says

A Low Emission Zone is a geographically defined area in which the most polluting vehicles are restricted from entering or driving within without paying a charge. The overall aim of these zones is to both reduce the amount of traffic within a specific area and reduce the number of highest-polluting vehicle types, to minimise the associated emissions and air quality effects. Other benefits include a reduction in congestion levels, raising revenue to fund sustainable transport initiatives, and benefits to human health

In England, the UK Government’s Department for Transport has instructed several Local Authorities to implement Low Emission Zones (otherwise known as Clean Air Zones) due to the lack of compliance with legal nitrogen dioxide levels. In principle we acknowledge the potential benefits associated with establishing Low Emission Zones, but due to the primarily rural nature of north Wales and the absence of any Air Quality Management Areas, we do not see the benefit in introducing any Low Emission Zones at present.

That is not to deny the existence of localised pockets of road-based pollution in the region and air quality levels should continue to be observed across the region .If emission levels are being exceeded in any area, a Low Emission Zone could be considered as one of a number of measures to reduce it.

The report will now go out for further consultation before a final report is published.