Newcastle councillors rule out 15-minute cities as a way of tackling air pollution

Newcastle Borough Council has sought to rule out a number of schemes aimed at tackling air pollution.

Council leaders say initiatives such as low emission zones (whereby vehicles are charged for entering) and 15-minute cities (where vehicles are restricted from entering certain areas) discourage people from using town centres like Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Cllr Mark Holland said: "Schemes like this are ineffective, costly and unethical.

"I've been very vocal in the past about the terrible impact a chargeable clean air zone, like the ULEZ, would have on our residents and businesses.

"Our cabinet has heard that a clean air zone would filch £200m out of the North Staffordshire economy, hammer businesses and deter people from visiting our town centre.

"I'm proud that our leadership has consistently opposed measures that dip our hands into drivers' pockets."

He said the council had asked the government to look again at its data, to see whether a post-pandemic reduction in traffic coupled with a move towards cleaner vehicles has in fact reduced pollution without the need for punitive measures such as the proposed bus gate at Basford Bank.

A bus gate is proposed for Basford Bank which would prevent people from travelling into the town at peak times (Nub News).

If a bus gate was installed, it could prevent vehicles travelling into Newcastle-under-Lyme along the A53 at peak times.

Cllr Holland also took aim at 15-minute cities – despite there being no such scheme currently proposed for the borough.

He said: "Ministers have quite rightly criticised the poor quality of implementation of these schemes.

"In the most recent round of the active travel fund, no low traffic neighbourhood scheme has received support because the Department for Transport isn't convinced these are benefitting communities."

He said active travel – such as walking or cycling – should be encouraged alongside better public transport to help improve people's choices when it comes to how to get around.

Council leader, Cllr Simon Tagg said the introduction of low emission zones and low-traffic neighbourhoods often brought with them a raft of draconian measures.

He described vehicles filters, bus gates, bollards, automatic numberplate recognition, and recording systems as being part of a system of stealth taxation.

Cllr Tagg said: "The idea of 15-minute cities and 15-minute neighbourhoods has gained prominence in recent times, with several local authorities – including Bath, North East Somerset and Oxford – embracing these concepts.

"While the intention behind these measures seems noble – and, of course, we look to reduce pollution for obvious reasons – we must critically examine the consequences they cause local residents."

Other measures are currently being considered as methods of reducing air pollution (Nub News).

Cllr Tagg also railed against the suggestion of supporting a bus gate at Basford Bank, saying this was no longer necessary as pollution is decreasing in the area.

He said: "We always said the Basford bus gate was a hammer to crack a nut, now it's the smallest peanut you could ever imagine."

Labour put forward a counter-proposal, which it said was to correct inaccuracies in the Conservatives' motion at full council last week.

Despite this the Labour group said they largely did agree with the Tories as they don't want a bus gate at Basford Bank or any other scheme for charging vehicles.

Cllr Dave Jones said the council needed to ensure it suggested alternatives, however, otherwise it could see such a scheme enforced by central government.

Cllr Jones said: "If we are to argue against their introduction – and I do argue against their introduction – then we need to come up with other solutions."

He believes it is unacceptable for people to suffer due to poor air quality.

He said: "It's no good us simply saying we don't want this, we need to come up with a solution – otherwise our residents will be facing hazardous levels [of pollution]."

He added: "We don't want to see the bus gate or the charge zone, but we recognise that we owe it to our residents in those area – particularly our younger residents – that they are entitled to clean, good quality air that isn't going to impact on their health."

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