WILTSHIRE roads are bearing the brunt of Bath’s Clean Air Zone charges and are seeing an increase of around 200 vehicles a day.

As the third anniversary approaches of the Clean Air Zone introduction on March 15 2021, Bath & North East Somerset Council says 4.4 million individual vehicles have been recorded travelling within the zone.

Of these, 81,355 have been issued a penalty charge notice as no payment of the applicable daily clean air zone charge was made.

The council says it has reaped an income of more than £7.6 million from PCNs ranging from £60 to £120 but the money is not being spent on repairing Wiltshire roads bearing the brunt of increased traffic.

Cllr Sarah Warren, BaNES Council's deputy leader and cabinet member for climate and sustainable travel, said: “Revenue from Clean Air Zone charges is reinvested back into Bath and North East Somerset to support further improvements to air quality and sustainable transport.

"The £7,611,060 in revenue that has been generated over three years to date covers the scheme’s operational costs with surplus allocated to sustainable transport and air quality schemes.

"This revenue has already supported the installation of bike hangars, helped fund the operating costs of our bereavement services’ onsite pollutant capture device and formed a part of our local contribution to the delivery of sustainable transport improvements across the West of England region.

"We are also reinvesting £2m of the revenue into the first phase of Scholars’ Way, which is a safe walking and cycling route connecting communities with educational establishments across the south of the city. We’ll be sharing more details about the CAZ spending in our annual report which will be published later this year.”

BaNES introduced the Class C charging Clean Air Zone following a ministerial direction from the government to improve air quality in the shortest possible time and to do so no later than 2021.

All private cars and motorcycles are exempt from charge within Bath regardless of their emissions status as a Class C zone is in place. The charges apply to HGVs, light goods vehicles, coaches, buses, minibuses, taxis and private hire vehicles.

Wiltshire Council has held talks with BaNES about the impact on the county’s roads from the CAZ and the 18-tonne weight limit on the city’s Cleveland Bridge.

Drivers trying to avoid the CAZ have had a devastating impact on Wiltshire’s roads, with the A36, A363, B3105, A361 and A350 needing regular repairs to potholes and the road surface.

Cllr Caroline Thomas, Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, said they have seen a dramatic rise in traffic volumes on the A363 at Farleigh Wick, the B3105 at Staverton, the A361 at Semington and A350 between Westbury and Warminster.

 “We understand the need to improve air quality in Bath. However, the implementation of the Clean Air Zone (CAZ), combined with the new weight restriction on Bath Cleveland Bridge, despite significant investment recently made for it to take the heaviest HGVs, has meant additional long vehicles have been using roads in Wiltshire, particularly the A350.

“On the A350 between Westbury and Warminster, and at Semington, the data shows an increase of around 200 vehicles per day.

“Traffic flows can be affected by roadworks and changing travel patterns, but it is clear that the introduction of CAZ and the weight restrictions cannot be seen in isolation, and where traffic is displaced to other areas, appropriate mitigation must be provided.

“We have communicated our findings and the impact on Wiltshire to Bath and North East Somerset Council, as well as the Department for Transport and National Highways.

“We hope they will use this information to consider how the restrictions can be adjusted to work more effectively for Bath and the surrounding counties.”