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P LOW-EMISSION ZONE,
Page 14
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Reading Council to push through Euro-5 Low emissions zone by 2011
christindatt78ragooglemail.com
READING BOROUGH Council has left the Freight Transport Association (FTA) "gobsmacked" after it announced it wants to introduce a Euro-S standard low-emission zone (LEZ) in the city by 2011.
The council has come under fire after failing to consult the industry over its plans to clean up the air in its city centre (`Reading Council blasted for wasting government cash', CM 4 March). but the scale of the council's ambitions only became clear at a hastily scheduled meeting with the FTA last week.
Its plan is to roll out an ultra-clean-air zone only 10 miles away from London's LEZ by next year.
FTA policy manager Gordon Telling says he explained to council officials that operators would go out of business under such a strict scheme: "We said industry does not respond that fast. The bureaucracy of all this is just phenomenal."
However, Telling reveals that the FTA managed to explain to the council that there are alternative solutions.
"I can't say we have talked them out of it," he adds. "However, we have opened other doors and moved away from a worst-case scenario.
"I think they will carry on preparing for an LEZ, but they have said they are open to discuss how other things can be used to work effectively."
A council spokesman reveals that the cost of designing and implementing its scheme is thought to cost less than £2m, with an additional £540,000 in annual operating and enforcement costs.
He adds: "Reading's Transport Model indicates that around 4,600 vehicles enter the central area of Reading in a 24-hour period. Of these, around 3,700 do not have a destination in that area.
"Our forecasts show that, of these, around 2,200 vehicles that wouldn't meet the emissions ,4andard in 2011 will divert, if a charge of £50 is applied."