Bradford Council undertaking ‘high-level review’ of Clean Air Zone
It comes after the authority’s leader, Reform Councillor Stephen Place, said CAZ charges should be scrapped
Bradford Council has confirmed it is undertaking a “high-level review” of the city’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ).
It comes after the authority’s leader, Reform Councillor Stephen Place, said CAZ charges should be scrapped – arguing that they have a negative impact on businesses.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) issued a ‘ministerial direction’ to cut pollution levels in Bradford in 2018 – when the Tories were in power nationally.
Four years later, Bradford’s CAZ was introduced in a bid to improve the area’s air quality.
It has proved to be one of the most controversial political issues in Bradford in recent years.
Commercial vehicles causing the most pollution are currently charged a daily fee to enter Bradford and parts of Shipley.
Money from the CAZ can only be reinvested into schemes and measures which improve air quality.
The Government has stated the CAZ can only be lifted two years after Bradford has proved it has reached legal levels for air quality.
In a statement obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week, Cllr Place – who became leader of Bradford Council following May’s local elections – said: “As it stands, the ministerial direction for the CAZ in Bradford is a legal requirement imposed on the people of Bradford by the then-Conservative Government to reach air quality compliance in the shortest time possible.
“However, we are now undertaking a high-level review of the CAZ to evaluate the scheme and investigate the best way forward to facilitate the earliest revocation of this ministerial direction.
“This will assist us to make the right decisions for the people of Bradford and the Bradford district.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Politics North programme last month, Cllr Place said CAZ charges had a “detrimental effect” on businesses.
He said: “If you order a skip and it comes inside the CAZ, it’s an extra £50 to bring that skip to your house.”
He added that Bradford “can have a CAZ but we don’t have to charge for it”.
He claimed that some drivers were “causing chaos” by taking routes through smaller villages to avoid charges.
Defra did not comment on this matter when approached, with a spokesperson advising the Local Democracy Reporting Service to contact the Labour group on Bradford Council.
Cllr Imran Khan, leader of the Labour group on Bradford Council, said: “The CAZ charges generate in excess of £3 million a year, which pays for the staff and a lot of the projects that are ongoing to improve air quality locally.
“Where would Reform find that £3m if they wanted to keep the team in place, if they wanted to keep the environmental projects in place?
“All of those things are really important and have had a significant impact on our health.
“Scrapping the charges doesn’t make sense to me.”
Cllr Khan added that the CAZ was only ever meant to be temporary and would be removed as soon as legal air quality levels could be maintained.
Meanwhile, Cllr Matt Edwards, leader of the Green Party group on Bradford Council, said a CAZ without a charging element “made no sense”.
“The whole purpose is to reduce the number of the most polluting vehicles entering the city centre,” he said.
“Without enforcement, it simply will not work.”
Cllr Edwards added: “Reform should know full well that any major changes would need approval from national Government, so this feels like either a cynical attempt to grab headlines or a worrying misunderstanding of how the scheme actually operates.”
Cllr Rebecca Poulsen, leader of the Conservative group on Bradford Council, said the Tories had always been opposed to the charging element of the CAZ.
She added: “We all want clean air – but it’s got to be done properly and it’s got to consider the impacts on businesses and the economy.
“We will look carefully at anything that comes forward from Reform.”
According to Bradford Council’s Air Quality Annual Status Report in 2025, the number of locations breaching legal air-quality limits had dropped from 35 to two.
The report suggested the CAZ had contributed to an uptake of cleaner vehicles, saying Bradford’s taxi fleet was now considered among the cleanest in the country.
According to the Bradford Council website, CAZ in Bradford has led to around 700 fewer visits to the doctor for breathing and heart problems every month, saving the NHS more than £30,000 on a monthly basis.