Threat from wildfires shows the battle for clean air is far from over
Sheffield must prepare for a new threat to air quality
Everyone is a winner when it comes to clean air.
Three-and-a-half years since the launch of its Clean Air Zone Sheffield is a less polluted place.
This benefits us all, including those driving the wrong kind of vehicle.
New figures show that in the year to March, Sheffield City Council issued more than 48,000 fines to drivers of older vans, taxis, buses and lorries.
Some will be to unsuspecting visitors and some to independent businesses who don’t have the funds to upgrade vehicles after paying increased National Insurance, business rates, the national minimum wage and fuel costs.
A fine isn’t guaranteed of course, as drivers can pay a small fee in advance for the privilege of chugging along or within the inner ring road.
But the number of fines is declining and today just 11 per cent of vehicles on the roads now breach the CAZ pollution rules.
In the 1950s sooty air turned buildings and lungs black, before the government took action.
These days the focus is on the invisible menace of nitrogen dioxide, which the council says is down 28 per cent since the CAZ launched in 2023.
Neighbouring Manchester scrapped plans for a CAZ when Andy Burnham was mayor, under pressure from business.
But there is always a cost, and Sheffield has the benefit of knowing it has taken steps to cut premature deaths, time off due to ill health and healthcare costs.
But there is a new threat.
Wildfires are running at record levels in tandem with record temperatures.
Sheffield City Council should now use some of the millions it makes form motorists and spend it on preparing the city to live with the growing and immediate threat from climate change.