HEAVY Goods Vehicle operators are being invited to bid for funding to help them adapt to the Clean Air Zone, coming to parts of Bradford District in early 2022.

They will be able to apply for bids of up to £16,000 per vehicle to bring them up to the Clean Air Zone standards.

Bradford Council was directed by the Government to implement the Clean Air Zone to cut levels of air pollution from heavily congested roads.

The Council decided to introduce the zone in the city centre and the Canal Road corridor, Manningham Lane and parts of Shipley and Saltaire.

Vehicles that do not meet clean air standards will be charged for entering the zone. This will include vans, taxis, lorries, buses and coaches. There will be no charge for private cars.

Funding is now available to HGV operators, after the council was successful in securing £6.4m Clean Air HGV Funding to allow businesses to either replace or retrofit their vehicles to reduce harmful emissions from around 400 HGVs.

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Vehicle operators are now able to submit bids until 2pm on Wednesday, 1 September.

Applicants will need to apply via the YORtender portal - https://www.yortender.co.uk/ .

It also gives application guidance and details of eligibility, which include vehicles frequently needing to travel through the CAZ and operators being no larger than an SME – a small or medium enterprise with less than 250 employees and a turnover below £45m or a total balance sheet less than £40m.

The Council will also be publishing details of the Clean Air Exemptions Programme that will be open for applications later this year.

This programme will allow local businesses to have up to three exempt vehicles per organisation with additional exemptions for specified vehicles and for organisations carrying out educational and charity work.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Portfolio Holder for Healthy People and Places, said: “We were required by the Government to introduce the Clean Air Zone in order to comply with air quality targets by end of 2022. When it is up and running, the zone will make a massive difference to levels of air pollution in the district.

“But we do recognise that it will involve significant changes for businesses who need to drive through it. So we are doing as much as we can to access funding to assist these businesses to make their vehicles compliant. We hope that HGV operators will take up this valuable opportunity.”

Other funding schemes have already been offered to commercial vehicle owners, bus companies and Hackney Carriage and Private Hire operators. An opportunity for LGV (Light Goods Vehicles) owners to apply for funding will open in the next few weeks.