Issue - meetings

To consider the joint report of the Director of Resources and Housing and the Director of City Development which provides an update following the Government’s approval of Leeds Final Business Case and confirms the final funding position and spending conditions related to the Clean Air Funding awarded in January 2019. The report also details why clarifications and amendments for certain elements of the Charging Order are being considered, presents the longer term approach to establishing future emissions standards for the taxi and private hire trade, provides a progress report on both the implementation of the CAZ and the distribution of funding to impacted businesses and informs of a delay to the ‘go-live’ date.

The Director of Resources and Housing and the Director of City Development submitted a joint report which provided an update following the Government’s approval of the Final Business Case for the Leeds Clean Air Charging Zone and confirmation of the final funding position and spending conditions related to the Clean Air Funding awarded in January 2019. The report also detailed why clarifications and amendments for certain elements of the Charging Order were being considered, presented the longer term approach to establishing future emissions standards for the taxi and private hire trade and provided a progress report on the implementation of the Clean Air Zone (CAZ), highlighting the delay to the CAZ ‘go live’ date.

Responding to a Member’s enquiry regarding the delay to the CAZ ‘go live’ date, the Board received further information on the nature of the delay, which it was noted had been caused by a delay in the development of the required digital services by Central Government. It was also noted that the Council would continue to liaise with Government on this, in order to emphasise the importance of having the digital infrastructure in place at the earliest opportunity.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the funding conditions of the Clean Air Fund, as detailed within the submitted report, be noted and approved;

(b)  That the commencement of a statutory public consultation process on the specific points, as detailed within the submitted report, be approved;

(c)  That the change to the ‘market capacity’ take action date for the HGV sector only to 31st October 2019, be approved;

(d)  That the progress which has been made to date on the implementation of the CAZ by the Council, together with the actions taken regarding the distribution of associated funding, be noted;

(e)  That the delay to the ‘go-live’ date, be noted.