Clean Air Zone: A Year Later

What did the CAZ mean for local businesses?

February 2024 marked a year since the launch of Sheffield’s controversial Clean Air Zone (CAZ). The city’s Class C CAZ affects non-Euro-6 trucks, and drivers with non-complying vehicles must pay £50 per day to enter the zone. 

David Martin, co-owner of Martin’s Furniture, said: “We cannot come to Sheffield often because our 15 -plate van that is not Euro 6 is not allowed in the city centre. We had to let go a lot of the customer base that we had been building for over 50 years. We used to serve Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley but now we avoid Sheffield altogether."

Mr Martin said that it would cost him £41,000 for a new van, while the council’s scheme offers £4,500 to help. However, if Mr Martin was to sell his old van, he would receive less funding from the council.

He said: “I think there is a better way of doing it. I have to take my van which is a dirty vehicle past four schools to get to work whereas before I did not pass any schools. We spend more time driving around the ring road, polluting more than we would if we drove through the centre.”

Eddie Andrew, a farmer and co-owner of ‘Our Cow Molly’ ice cream parlour, has to pay £100 a day to get into the city centre with his freezer van. That costs him £600 a week, and he was unable to get funding from the council because his van is not classed as a specialist vehicle.

Mr Andrew said: “We have an ice cream parlour at the farm and we encourage people to come visit. The CAZ documentation says that money generated goes to support active transport and buses but we lost our Sunday bus service. People who used to take the bus to get an ice cream and to enjoy a walk in the countryside are forced to get out of the city in cars.”

Due to the nature of the vans required, Mr Andrew has to wait a year to get a new van. He said: “I am not against the Clean Air Zone at all. I asked the councillors for as much notice as possible from when Sheffield will decide the CAZ will go into force. Then Sheffield City Council gave businesses like ours three months' notice.”

Stephen Thompson, a pig farmer and owner of Moss Valley Fine Meats, said: “The council has not helped at all. Our farm happens to be in Derbyshire and our drive is in Yorkshire. The money from the government was only put in the city. They have really hampered us.”

Mr Thompson’s business lost £100,000 in the last two years, having to take out business loans to swap two vehicles. 

He said: “It affects artisan food producers more than anyone else. Most of us are from outside the city and have to come into the city, and most of us are small firms. It is really annoying how they did not think it through and did not do it fairly.”

Taxi firms in the city centre have also struggled with transitioning their vehicles.

Councillor Minesh Parekh, deputy chair of the Economic Development and Skills Policy committee said: “Firms like Uber bought out all of the new non-polluting vehicles when the clean air zones started. The government has not really thought about the supply chain needed.

Taxi drivers who have managed to get an electric taxi are struggling to find charging points.

Cllr Parakh said: "The government has promised it would scale up charging points across the country and it has been really slow on that so we have started doing it ourselves as a council, so it would be great if the government could deliver the money it promised."