Queensbury camera thieves leave cloud over council's clean air zone traffic survey

Bradford Council has published figures showing the change in commercial traffic levels in certain areas around its Clean Air Zone.

It had been collected to study the effect of the new charges – and whether they had led to vehicles such as vans and HGVs diverting down roads that lie outside the Zone.

The data shows that just one road that was being surveyed showed a rise in commercial traffic since the Clean Air Zone was introduced in September.

Brighouse and Denholme Road in Queensbury saw a 0.68 per cent rise in commercial traffic. However, that data only runs until October, as the camera monitoring traffic on the road was stolen in November.

All the other roads being monitored saw a decrease in commercial traffic.

The road that saw the biggest drop in commercial traffic was Netherlands Avenue, between Halifax Road and Low Moor.

That road saw a 1.96 per cent drop in commercial traffic since the Clean Air Zone was introduced.

Data on three sites is not available due to the cameras being stolen shortly after being installed.

The cameras on Broadstone Way, Holme Wood, Rockhill Lane, Bierley and Shetcliffe Lane, Bierley were all stolen.

A spokesman added: “It was disappointing that cameras have been stolen during our traffic monitoring survey. In three out of the four cameras the police have made arrests following the theft of the cameras.”

Plans for the Clean Air Zone were drawn up after Bradford Council was given a Ministerial Direction by Government to reduce the city’s illegal pollution levels in 2018.

A Clean Air Zone, that would see the most polluting commercial vehicles charged to enter much of the city and areas of Shipley, was introduced last September.

Some vehicles were given exemptions, and around 9,500 local exemptions have been awarded to vehicles.

The new report says 2.5 per cent of vehicles passing through the Clean Air Zone are eligible for charging.

One of the main concerns when the Clean Air Zone was proposed was that businesses would attempt to avoid paying the change by diverting their vehicles around the zone – potentially clogging roads not used to heavy commercial vehicles.

The early data – collected in October and November, suggests this has not been the case.

Among the 21 roads that were monitored were:

Cleckheaton Road – which saw a 0.5 per cent drop in commercial traffic since the zone was introduced Cemetery Road – a 0.01 per cent drop in commercial traffic Great Horton Road – a 0.25 per cent drop Tong Street – 0.66 per cent Dick Lane – 1.50 per cent Gain Lane – 1.12 per cent Netherlands Avenue – 1.96 per cent Main Road, Denholme – 0.51 per cent Brighouse and Denholme Road, Queensbury – an increase of 0.68 per cent

The report says: “These metrics indicate that there is no displacement of commercial vehicles occurring as a result of the introduction of the CAZ, this is evidenced by no increase in the percentage of commercial vehicles in traffic flows at any of the monitoring sites, with the exception of a small increase (0.68 per cent) in Queensbury in the October data.”

A manual traffic count in East Morton, Keighley in late November found that commercial vehicle traffic was down nine per cent compared to before the CAZ.

Referring to the amount of vehicles that are being charged for entering the CAZ, the report adds: “Data from the CAZ Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras analysed by DVLA indicates that only 2.5 per cent of vehicles travelling in the zone are chargeable.”

Coun Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “The Bradford Clean Air Zone has been launched to improve the health of our residents by reducing air pollution in our District.

“We are monitoring and measuring displacement of chargeable vehicles to ensure that increased traffic volumes and the risk pollution is not spreading to other areas.

“The results of the real time video traffic monitoring reassures us that there is no significant increases in commercial traffic at the sites we measured.”

The Council has added: “Evaluation of the impact of the CAZ is subject to a separate reporting regime but results from all air pollution monitoring sites in the district will be included in the next report that is due to be sent to Government in the summer.”