Bath could become first place outside London to charge cars to drive into the centre 

Two of the suggested charging schemes would only affect coaches, buses, HGVs and taxis, while a third would also affect certain types of private car.   
Two of the suggested charging schemes would only affect coaches, buses, HGVs and taxis, while a third would also affect certain types of private car.    Credit: Allan Baxter /The Image Bank 

Bath could become the first city outside London to charge motorists to drive into the centre under new proposals.

Tourist coaches are contributing to air pollution in the historic city, the council suggested.

Plans launched by Bath & North East Somerset Council suggest a charge for high-emission vehicles driving into the centre in order to improve air quality.

Two of the suggested charging schemes would only affect coaches, buses, HGVs and taxis, while a third would also affect private cars with older engines which do not meet certain emissions standards. 

For petrol engines cars from before around 2006 are likely to be affected, while for diesel cars affected engines are from before around 2015. 

An area of the city dubbed a clean air charging zone would charge drivers who entered the city's Georgian centre, including major shopping areas and the Royal Crescent. 

Conservative councillor Bob Goodman, cabinet member for development and neighbourhoods, said: "We are legally bound to reduce levels of N02 in line with the government’s requirements. As such, one of the three options for a Clean Air Zone would involve charging certain types of cars to drive into the centre of Bath, whilst the other two options would only affect other types of vehicles such as HGVs, buses, coaches and taxis.  

"As these three options illustrate, it may be possible for us to achieve the required air quality improvements without the need to charge cars, however further detailed work has to be done before a final package is agreed later this year”.

A consultation with residents will run until December this year. 

London introduced a congestion charge in 2003, which charges vehicles £11.50 for each weekday they travel in the zone between 7am and 6pm, and fines drivers up to £195 for non-payment. 

The capital's congestion charge zone covers the City of London, the area around Waterloo station and South Bank University south of the river, the British Museum and LSE to the north, and stretches to the edge of Hyde Park in the west. 

More recently the city has introduced other restrictions, such as excluding all traffic except bicycles and buses from Bank junction on weekdays. 

In 2013 transport officials announced that the scheme had resulted in a 10 per cent reduction in traffic levels in its first decade. 

Proposals for a similar charge to be introduced in Manchester were rejected in a referendum in 2008, and last year the city's mayor Andy Burnham ruled out introducing one in the future after a study by the local transport authority explored introducing daily charges of £7.50 for high-emitting cars, £20 for LGVs and £100 for HGVs. 

In January Leeds city council announced that it was also exploring a charging zone to bring down pollution levels, but its plans do not affect private cars. 

Under plans announced last year the Government said it would require local councils which contained pollution hotspots with particularly high levels of nitrogen dioxide to produce local air quality plans to reduce levels of the gas by 2021. 

Nitrogen dioxide, which is emitted at particularly high levels by diesel engines, has been linked to health problems including heart and lung problems, cancer, and breathing difficulties. 

In recent years scientists have concluded that the gas itself is likely to be directly causing some of these health issues.

In 2015 Government advisory group the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants concluded that "it would be sensible to regard NO2 as causing some of the health impact found to be associated with it in epidemiological studies."