Sheffield Clean Air Zone Revenue Investments
Sheffield City Council has recently announced that the £2.3m in revenue generated from the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) inside the central ring road in the past year will be invested in a few key improvements to air quality, cycle infrastructure and children’s safety.
What’s happening with the £2.3m, exactly?
The Council are investing further in the ‘School Streets’ Programme - these are schemes aimed at reducing or completely eliminating traffic from roads with schools on them during entry and exit times. They were developed back in 2021 as a way of reducing air pollution around schools, making students feel safer walking to school, and making it easier to take other forms of active travel to school such as bikes.
The first ‘School Street’ at a secondary school was launched last month on Andover Street in Burngreave to support journeys to and from school for students of Astrea Academy. In practice, this means that only pedestrians and cyclists can use the road between 8:00-9:15 and 14:30-15:45 Monday to Friday.
Before ‘School Streets’ can be introduced to some priority roads next to schools, these streets will become 20mph speed limit zones until new restrictions can be properly implemented.
More bike parking in local neighbourhoods and high streets.
Creation of more ‘green walls’ to absorb CO2 (Not much context or detail has been published regarding this yet)
Why does this matter?
Air pollution is bad, funnily enough! Any steps at increasing the quality of the air we breathe in Sheffield is massively welcomed, especially supporting young students who have no choice but to bear the brunt of excessive private car usage whilst not driving themselves.
There’s one thing missing from these proposals, though…
What could CAZ revenue be used for in future?
At A Fleet for Change, we believe in not only taking cars off the road, but providing a safe, sustainable and shared alternative to make journeys that would have been made in private vehicles.
Cycling and active travel is amazing, but it isn’t universally accessible.
Traditional forms of public transport let the city breathe, taking many people where they need to go, but what if you don’t live on a bus route?
We believe that new funding that comes about to reduce air pollution should also at the same time create new, exciting, accessible ways of getting around our city. We admit, we’re a little bit biased, but that is exactly what we want to give to everyone in Sheffield.
We hope that, in the next round of CAZ revenue investment, investing in shared transport solutions is seriously looked at to ensure all people can get to school, to work, to the shops, to the doctor’s, or even to the pub, without worrying about their safety, their carbon footprint, or their wallet.