Delays to Leeds Clean Air Zone get political – Yorkshire Post Letters

THE aim of the Clean Air Zone all along has been to change behaviour rather than raise money. I wonder if it has already fulfilled that ambition? The loans and grants already paid out mean that a number of old, polluting vehicles have already been replaced and taken off Leeds’s roads, unlikely to return.

Surely all would have to agree that is a benefit to the city, so that when things do return to ‘normality’, and the sooner the better, it is better to have lower emission vehicles on the road replacing higher polluters, than sitting in a showroom? Let us not think that money has been wasted. Right now, Covid-19 may have reduced traffic to a fraction of what it was, but it will be back.

Leeds is fully at liberty to implement a charging zone for polluting vehicles. However, the crux of the matter is that Government funding would only be forthcoming to implement such a zone where they have instructed the council to implement one. So my understanding is that if we were to continue, it could be solely at the risk of the Leeds City Council taxpayer. When many Leeds residents are at imminent risk of losing jobs and livelihoods due to Covid-19 and given, as we are told, the perilous state of the city’s coffers, I would be interested to know if Labour councillors would sanction such a unilateral move.

From: Martin J Phillips, Tinshill Lane, Leeds.

WE are forever being told that Leeds City Council do not have the funds to finance essential services, yet we continue to see them throwing millions away with unnecessary road works i.e. Mickey Mouse-like roundabouts or traffic lights installed where they are not needed and nevcr-ending speed bumps and 20mph zones. LCC still have not figured out these are the things that are increasing air pollution.

Enlightened councils are doing the exact opposite, thus saving money for essential services and improving air quality.

From: Bryan Smith, Quarrie Dene Court, Leeds.

ONE appreciates the frustration of Hilary Andrews (The Yorkshire Post, September 1) about cars parking on pavements, around where she lives.

Further towards the city centre, in Chapel Allerton, the pavements have become the personal fiefdom of ‘businesses’.

Where there are barriers for social distancing, the pavements have been littered with large A-boards and other obstructions; parking with one wheel on the pavement is endemic, as is parking on the taxi ranks near to ‘the bars’. Even parking bays have been requisitioned, with one providing extra showroom space for hire bicycles. This is not inconsiderate use by the general public: it is local business owners who have become totally inconsiderate. We know that your ‘business’ is ‘open’, let us get to it.

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James Mitchinson