Reader's letter - Sheffield Clean Air Zone: The city is already a ghost town and will become even more so

Lets take a trip backwards (not so long ago) when Sheffield City Council was hell bent on removing somewhere in the region of 5,000 mature trees – “the lungs of the city” taking in toxins, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and the rest.
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Now roll forward and here we have the same city council happy to receive close to £24 million to deliver (with Rotherham) Clean Air Plans throughout the city.

At first glance you may think “well that’s good”, but here’s my problem with it. We already have the buses diverted from Pinstone Street, leaving our less able citizens and people with young families to struggle in their efforts to come into town to shop.

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What next? Tax those same buses at a rate of £50 a day and don’t stop there, tax the old taxis and HGVs.

There are concerns about how the Clean Air Zone will affect the city.There are concerns about how the Clean Air Zone will affect the city.
There are concerns about how the Clean Air Zone will affect the city.

All well and good you might think. Think again, the taxi drivers will need to spend somewhere in the region of £50,000 to buy electric vehicles.

How on earth will they afford to do that? Easy, hump up the prices, same with the bus companies, hump up the prices.

The city is already a ghost town and will become even more so when people decide enough is enough and head out in their cars to other places (free of parking charges), to spend their hard-earned dosh.

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What will the city council do with the “old bin lorries, fire engines, police vans and ambulances, will they be charged too?

Lastly, for now at least, people talk about the “road tax”.

It isn’t a “road tax” at all, it’s a vehicle tax where you are charged dependent on what emissions your vehicle produces.

That money by the way doesn’t necessarily go on environmental issues, it’s spent on whatever the government decides.

Ron Sanderson

Intake, S12