Leader 'confident' of dropping Clean Air Zone fees

The leader of Bradford Council has said his group remains "confident" it can scrap the city's Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charges despite the "legalities" of the move.

As part of the initiative to improve air quality, commercial vehicles that cause the most pollution are currently charged a daily fee to enter Bradford and parts of Shipley.

In his first BBC interview since May, Reform UK's Stephen Place said he is still committed to "stop charging people for driving their vehicles round the city".

Place announced the plans to scrap the CAZ charges following May's local elections, which saw Reform form a minority administration on the council after winning 29 of the 90 seats available.

The authority was ordered to improve the city's air quality by the then-Conservative government in 2018, with the CAZ launched in 2022.

The council's 2025 Air Quality Annual Status Report said the number of locations breaching legal air-quality limits had fallen from 35 to two.

The report suggested the CAZ had contributed to an uptake of cleaner vehicles, while the council's website said it had led to around 700 fewer visits to the doctor for breathing and heart problems every month.

In June, the authority announced it was undertaking a "high-level review" of the CAZ.

Reform said the CAZ had a negative impact on businesses, but Place accepted the removal of charges had "quite a lot of legalities surrounding it".

"We're tied in statutorily to do that, but we are going to work to run it out naturally," he said.

"Whenever we say, 'right that's the day we stop it', then in terms of charging we then by law have to have 12 months of further monitoring to make sure that we don't fall foul again."

He added that the authority is "confident we can change it, alter it, make it better and stop charging people in Bradford for driving their vehicles around Bradford".

The local authority is expected to make an announcement on its next steps soon.

Like other council leaders, Place is also grappling with how to address the financial challenges the authority faces.

The government agreed "exceptional financial support" for the council in 2024, meaning the authority could borrow money to fund its services.

In March 2025, the authority was granted government permission to raise council tax by 9.99% in order to help balance the books.

Place said whilst the authority was sticking to a £50m savings plan agreed by the last Labour administration, he was also looking at ways to save more.

He said "we haven't got magical amazing big plans or anything like that", but added "we want to make things better in Bradford".

Discussing further savings, he pointed to the scrapping of the Squire Lane leisure facility in the city.

"We just couldn't do that, because we needed to stem the amount of money that's been borrowed in Bradford and make sure we are protecting the people of Bradford, taxpayers' interests, and it was a step too far in terms of finances."

The decision was questioned by councillor Rizwana Jamil, who said: "It shouldn't always be about money. It's about the facilities we provide to our communities."

The Labour councillor added: "It's not about just the investment, just the cost which is going in. It's all about the long-term implications and the long-term effects of this project."

Since becoming leader, Place, like other Reform leaders in West Yorkshire, have had to build working relationships with the Labour regional mayor Tracy Brabin and her deputy Alison Lowe.

Shortly after he was elected, some of Place's social media posts came to light - which MP Anna Dixon said showed "deeply troubling views".

Speaking at the time, Lowe, whose role covers policing and crime, said the posts did not break the law but had caused offence.

Reflecting on the situation now, Place said: "We've addressed all that, that's long gone now.

"We had a good conversation about it and I explained my side of it as I've done before to different media outlets.

"To me, it's finished, gone, done. Let's move on."

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