IMPLEMENTING a clean air zone (CAZ) in Warrington would cost around £7 million – with transport bosses keeping the matter under review.

It could see ‘highly polluting’ vehicles banned from entering an area of the borough, or charged to do so.

Zones can be confined to a single road, or a part of a city or town.

In the appendices documents for the draft local transport plan, LTP4, which is out for consultation, it says a blanket ban would not generate revenue except for fines for non-compliance, but is likely to be ‘more effective’ in delivering environmental and traffic-related benefits.

The vision set out in the document is partly aimed at improving the town’s air quality – a goal which could lead to the introduction of a CAZ.

A council spokesman said: “Air quality in Warrington and the impact it has on the health of our residents is an extremely important issue for the council – and for this reason ‘air quality and noise’ has been identified as a strategic priority for the plan.

“The draft LTP4 proposes a transformational approach to the way that we travel around Warrington, the successful delivery of which would improve air quality in Warrington by reducing the number of trips made by car and reducing congestion.

“The draft LTP4 also includes a cleaner fuels strategy aimed specifically at reducing the impact of emissions from diesel and petrol engines on our environment.

“In developing our draft plan, we looked at the option to introduce a CAZ in Warrington as part of our transformational projects study.”

However, the huge cost to bring it in could prove to be a major stumbling block.

The spokesman added: “The study identified broad cost estimates for the implementation of a CAZ of £7 million, based on the enforcement technology and back office systems required and similarly broad estimates were derived for the cost of replacing vehicles such as buses, taxis and goods vehicles on Warrington’s roads with electric vehicles.

“While the potential to reduced emissions is acknowledged, such a scheme at present seems unlikely to be self-financing, and the council will look to monitor similar projects across the county to see how they are rolled out and funded.

“The potential for a CAZ in Warrington will therefore be kept under review, with further study work proposed in the early years of LTP4.”

Cllr Bob Barr, leader of the town’s Liberal Democrats, has described air quality and congestion problems in Warrington as ‘long term and intractable’.

Warrington Guardian:

Cllr Bob Barr

He said: “They should have been resolved during the New Town era, when there was an opportunity to build new roads that would have taken much of the through traffic away from the town.

“The draft local transport plan makes valiant efforts to recognise the problem and suggest solutions.

“However, it is not at all clear that these are deliverable or will be effective.

“We are concerned that air quality monitoring is grossly inadequate across the town, particularly south of the Ship Canal. So, we don’t even know how bad our problem is.

“However, until more of the public can be made to choose walking, cycling or public transport in clean vehicles or trams, and to work from home or live closer to their jobs, the problem cannot be solved.”