Clean Air Zones

The UK government has published the principles for setting up new Clean Air Zones (CAZ) in England. A CAZ can limit entry by more polluting vehicles, for instance by road charging or traffic management. Local authorities who propose a CAZ need to consider how its introduction will impact on vehicle emissions and pollutant concentrations, in order to have confidence that their objectives will be achieved.

Software

Our ADMS-Urban software is widely used for developing and testing policy and action plans for air quality improvement. For example Transport for Greater Manchester is using ADMS-Urban to model CAZ proposals for Manchester, and SEPA are using ADMS-Urban to model Low Emission Zone proposals for Glasgow.

Consultancy

CERC's consultancy team has been assisting UK local authorities with their Air Quality Management responsibilities since 1995. We have extensive experience in the assessment of air quality measures on challenging timescales.

We use our ADMS-Urban and EMIT software to assist local authorities. We apply a range of techniques for the robust assessment of CAZs, such as:

• Source apportionment of emissions and concentrations, for instance to determine the relative contributions from diesel cars below Euro 6 standard. Map 1, from a recent assessment, shows the proportion of total NO_x concentration due to particular vehicle types at specific locations.
• Assessment of the impact of measures, including changes in emissions and concentrations due to changes in road traffic flows and fleet composition. Map 2 shows the changes in emissions predicted from the implementation of a mitigation measure.
• Contour plots from detailed modelling. Map 3 shows the areas predicted to exceed the NO2 annual average limit for central Glasgow.

Contact us

For more information about Clean Air Zones please contact CERC and one of our expert consultants will be pleased to assist you.