ITEM CMDT4
CABINET MEMBER DECISIONS – 26 MARCH 2009
OXFORD CITY CENTRE LOW EMISSION ZONE
Report by Head of Transport
Background
1. Levels of nitrogen dioxide in parts of Oxford city centre exceed national air quality objectives. In response to this, Oxford City Council designated an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in September 2001 covering part of the city centre. The designated area was extended in September 2003. In the next few months, the City Council proposes to extend the city centre AQMA further and consolidate it with AQMAs in other parts of the city into a single city-wide AQMA. A plan showing the proposed revised extent of the city centre part of this city-wide AQMA is attached at Annex 1 (download as .doc file).
2. In 2006, the City and County Councils jointly agreed an Air Quality Action Plan for Oxford city centre. Road traffic is the main source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the city centre, so the plan is focused on reducing emissions from traffic. One of the measures in the plan predicted to deliver a substantial reduction in traffic emissions is the introduction of a low emission zone (LEZ) – a defined area that vehicles may not enter unless they meet certain emissions standards.
Low Emission Zone Feasibility Study
3. The City and County Councils have been working on a feasibility study for a low emission zone since 2007. The aim of this study has been to establish: a) whether a low emission zone would deliver sufficient air quality benefits to justify the considerable investment required by those needing to comply with it; b) to which vehicle types the low emission zone should apply; c) what emission standard would be effective and reasonable and d) from what date that standard should apply.
4. The LEZ feasibility study has considered a range of options. Detailed reports have been produced at each stage of the study. Those with a direct interest in the implementation of an LEZ have been consulted at each stage. A joint steering group, comprising City and County Council officers and councillors, has considered the recommendations at each stage of the study and narrowed down the options.
5. The study has taken into account the effects of other factors affecting air quality in the city centre. These factors include trends in vehicle emissions that would continue with or without an LEZ, planned developments such as the Westgate shopping centre, and planned transport schemes that are expected to affect traffic flows. Bus routeing changes resulting from Stage 1 of Transform Oxford - the county council’s proposals to transform the transport and pedestrian experience in Oxford city centre – have been included in the assessment.
6. The study has considered the compliance costs borne by individuals and companies operating vehicles in the city centre. This has focused primarily on the costs to the bus companies, because significant increases in their costs are likely to be passed on at least in part to passengers.
Low Emission Zone Study – Overall Conclusions
7. The LEZ study has concluded that an LEZ for Oxford city centre should:
(a) Apply only to public service buses and coaches
The main source of NOx in most streets in central Oxford is buses and coaches.
An LEZ applying to vehicles other than public service buses and coaches would need to be established using a traffic regulation order (TRO). Such a scheme would involve establishing points on the roads leading into the city centre through which vehicles not complying with certain emissions requirements would be prohibited from passing. Any non-compliant vehicles passing these points would be fined. The implementation, administration and enforcement of this would be highly complex and expensive, and would have to be undertaken by the county council. Income from fines would be low, given the relatively low number of non-compliant vehicles involved, and would not significantly contribute towards the scheme operating costs.
Considerable signage and enforcement equipment (e.g. cameras) would be needed at various locations, many of which would be sensitive for conservation reasons.
Alternative routes would need to be available for non-compliant vehicles to by-pass the restricted zone. In Oxford’s constrained historic streets, this would be difficult or impossible to achieve without environmentally unacceptable and expensive infrastructure changes.
An LEZ applying only to public services buses and coaches could be established using a traffic regulation condition (TRC) or under the provisions of the Local Transport Act 2008. Using either method, implementation, administration and enforcement would be achieved through the system of bus service registration, rather than on-street enforcement of traffic restrictions.
The extra benefit of an LEZ applying to all vehicles would be small, and limited to a few streets, so the considerable extra cost, complexity, environmental harm and enforcement difficulties associated with an all-vehicles LEZ cannot be justified. (b) Apply to ALL public service buses and coaches operating in the city centre
Public transport operators compete in a commercial environment for business, so any LEZ applying to some operators and not others would give an unfair competitive advantage to those operators to which it did not apply.
(c) Set a standard for NOx emissions only (not NOx and particulate matter)
Although both nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter affect health, the main problem in Oxford city centre is nitrogen dioxide pollution. LEZ options setting a standard for both pollutants were assessed, but rejected because i) a particulate matter based standard could worsen NOx emissions; ii) a NOx-based standard would also improve particulate matter emissions.
(d) Be achieved through a traffic regulation condition or statutory quality partnership scheme
Various implementation methods have been considered. A traffic regulation condition (TRC) or statutory quality partnership scheme (QPS) are considered to be the most appropriate. The two main alternatives (at either end of the scale in terms of level of regulation) are voluntary agreements and bus quality contracts.
Voluntary arrangements would give the councils no guarantees that the required emissions reductions would be delivered. They would also leave bus operators who complied with the voluntary agreement vulnerable to unfair competition from non-compliant operators (e.g. the ability to offer lower fares by running older, cheaper vehicles).
Bus quality contracts require the local transport authority (in Oxfordshire, the county council) to take a direct role in the running of bus services. This would involve letting contracts for the operation of buses in a defined area for fixed periods. The county council would incur significant additional on-going costs in administering such an arrangement, and it would very likely take many years to establish. Bus quality contracts are not, therefore, considered to be the right model for achieving emissions reductions in Oxford, primarily because equally effective methods (a TRC or QPS) are available and can be implemented more quickly and without major on-going costs.
(e) Require buses and coaches to meet the Euro V standard
The study assessed the impacts of both a Euro IV and Euro V standard on emissions and bus operators’ compliance costs.
A Euro V standard, applying to all buses and coaches, would deliver the required NOx reductions in central Oxford. A Euro IV standard would not deliver the required reductions.
A Euro V standard results in the most equitable distribution of compliance costs for the main commercial bus operators in Oxford; i.e. the compliance costs they each would bear is roughly proportionate to the size of their fleets. Other options are less equitable in this respect.
Low Emission Study – Conclusions on Transform Oxford Stage 1
8. The LEZ study has concluded that the bus routeing changes associated with Transform Oxford Stage 1 would deliver some major improvements in air quality in those streets where buses are reduced or eliminated. However, air quality will, as would be expected, worsen in those streets where the number of buses increases as a result of the routeing changes. Overall emissions from buses across the city centre are not significantly affected. The overall effect of Transform Oxford can be considered positive, because those streets in which air quality is predicted to worsen have much lower pedestrian flows than those streets in which air quality is expected to improve, reducing the overall exposure to air pollution.
9. These improvements are not sufficient to remove the need for further action to improve air quality in Oxford city centre, so the study recommends that an LEZ is still progressed.
LEZ Compliance Date
10. The City and County Councils must specify a date by which they expect bus operators to comply with the Euro V standard. Some operators already have some vehicles that comply. To meet the standard across their entire fleet, the bus companies must close the gap between their current compliance level and the target compliance level of 100%.
11. The LEZ steering group has considered various options for closing this gap, and has assessed the impact of these options on bus operators’ future vehicle replacement costs. On the basis of these assessments, the group has decided to set a target compliance date of 31 December 2013.
Integration with other Transport Initiatives
12. It is vital that proposals for a low emission zone are not progressed in isolation from other transport initiatives. Two major initiatives that are currently particularly relevant are Transform Oxford (County Council proposals to transform the transport and pedestrian experience in Oxford city centre) and the County Council’s related work with the bus operators to establish a new statutory quality partnership scheme which would only allow access to certain bus infrastructure if certain constraints are met (including new initiatives such as joint ticketing arrangements). It is envisaged that the LEZ proposals would be developed as a fully integral part of a single quality partnership scheme.
How the Project Supports LTP2 Objectives
13. Improving air quality is an objective of LTP2. The Oxford city centre air quality action plan was published as part of LTP2, and included support for the investigation of a low emission zone.
Financial Implications (including Revenue)
14. Further consultation and work on an implementation strategy is required in 2009/10. This is expected to cost no more than £50,000, and can be funded from LTP2 and transport revenue budgets.
RECOMMENDATION
15. The Cabinet Member for Transport is RECOMMENDED to:
(a) endorse the principle that proposals for a low emission zone (LEZ) are progressed as part of an integrated package of transport and bus quality improvements in Oxford;
(b) support Oxford City Council’s intention to declare a low emission zone (LEZ) requiring all public service vehicles (PSVs) operating in Oxford city centre to meet the Euro V emission standard by 31 December 2013;
(c) instruct officers to:
(i) agree, within 6 months of this meeting, a timetable and objectives for a bus quality partnership scheme (QPS) requiring all PSVs operating in Oxford city centre to comply with the requirements of the proposed LEZ; and
(ii) work with the Traffic Commissioner to develop a traffic regulation condition, requiring all PSVs operating in Oxford city centre to comply with the requirements of the proposed LEZ. The TRC will be introduced unless a QPS as described in (c) (i) above has been implemented first.
STEVE HOWELL Head of Transport Environment & Economy
Background papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Martin Kraftl Tel 01865 815786
February 2009
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