Bristol's Diesel Ban

Bristol is beautiful city in which to walk.  The central area is compact with a wonderful mix of the old and new. Of course, I enjoy walking in Bristol partially because the central area is a driving nightmare.  The city council’s decision to create a clean air zone that bans diesel powered private vehicles from the city center is hopefully a trail blazing first.

Air pollution in Bristol kills around 300 people a year, Bristol Live reported, and the city is under a legal obligation to lower its high levels of toxic nitrogen dioxide as quickly as possible to below legal limits. Because of this, efforts to clean the city's air have wide support, but some have raised concerns about the plan's impact on low-income residents.

The plan will ban private vehicles from the center, but allow taxis and emergency vehicles. Private vehicles will have to pay a fine if they drive into the restricted area, and commercial vehicles will need to pay a fee to access it…

"It's hard to overstate how significant a policy intervention this is," BBC Radio Bristol politics reporter Pete Simson said. "This is a first, no other UK city is introducing an outright diesel ban, and it will require the government to introduce new legislation."

It’s going to take a lot of negotiation to finalize the rules here, which is an illustration of the difficulty of putting meaningful environment or carbon reduction rules in place.