Low emission zones and hot air

Some members of the Green group regard me as being at the cynical end of the party. The above Labour Party tweet might explain why. It sums up the level of a lot of Bristol politics, really.

So here is the thing. We have a problem with air pollution in Bristol. Hundreds of people die each year. There is a thing called a 'Low emission zone' (or 'Clean air zone') which councils can enact to do something about it.

This isn't too well defined. It could be a 'targetted congestion zone' in which particular types of vehicles are restricted or banned from a defined area.

Bristol missed out on being one of the handful of cities selected to become a Clean Air zone. Mayor Ferguson has talked about it. Labour have talked about it. The LibDems set up a petition about it (Mark Wright). But nothing has actually happened.

So my colleague, Jerome Thomas submitted a budget amendment calling for the setting up of a zone, with a budget of £50k to work out its scope, the area covered, and how it should be implemented.

Labour and Tories voted it down. (This is basically what happens in budget meetings. People vote against you if they possibly can).

Roll on to the next council meeting. Lo and behold, Labour and LibDems submit a motion on low emission zones. The format of meetings means that the LDs get theirs taken.

It isn't brilliant but asks for something like a task force, and has an implementation date. Labour amend it to remove any implementation date (remember they already voted against a budget for it) and add in a few specifics, but notably miss out cars.

I voted against the amendment (as did the LDs and other Greens) because the amendment therefore has no budget, no implementation date and limits the scope.

You then get the Labour political officer tweeting the above.

Oh - this all needs to be put in the context of these motions can just be ignored by the mayor.

So - the good news is, following our budget amendment, we have at least forced the Labour Party to do something about Low Emission Zones. And the LDs for that matter, although to be fair, they have LEZ form (in a good way).

The bad news is - I see them on twitter now saying 'implement a zone now'. This is without knowing if it will work, how it will be enforced, what area it covers, how it will be introduced, how it will be paid for, with no budget and excluding cars etc etc. One wonders if we get  Labour mayor if they will enact such a zone with so little thought. I suspect not. (I actually suspect we won't get anything for the environment at all if we get a Labour mayor, but that's another story).

So should I be cycnical or should I be pleased. Answers on a postcard....