Payments for the Clean Air Zone go live

Birmingham City Council has confirmed that from 0:01am on 14 June 2021 drivers entering Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone, in a vehicle that does not meet its emission standards, will be required to pay the daily fee, unless a valid exemption is in place.

Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone started operation on 1 June 2021 and covers an area of Birmingham city centre inside the A4540 Middleway (but not the Middleway itself).

At the launch of the scheme the Council confirmed that it would pause payments for two weeks (up to 11:59pm 13 June 2021) to allow more people and organisations to apply for an exemption or financial incentive. The pause in payments also provided people with an additional opportunity to familiarise themselves with the payments process.

From 14 June 2021 vehicles that do not meet the emission standards for the zone will be subject to an £8 (for cars, vans and taxis) or £50 (for HGVs, coaches etc) daily fee, unless a valid exemption is in place. Once payments are live people will be able to pay six days prior to the day of travel, the day of travel and six days afterwards.

Councillor Waseem Zaffar MBE, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment said:

“The launch of payments for the Government-mandated Clean Air Zone is the latest step on our journey to create a clean air city.

“The Clean Air Zone will help us to address the single biggest environmental risk to public health and I have been clear from the beginning of the scheme that we wanted to make its introduction fair and reasonable. Today marks the start of important change.

“Approximately 75% of cars will not be subject to the daily charge, but I must stress for drivers to please ensure you check if your vehicle will be charged using the vehicle checker tool. You can also find out more about the payment process and support available on the Brum Breathes website.”

The objective of the zone is to help bring the levels of nitrogen dioxide in the city to within the legal limit (40 micrograms per cubic metre as an annualised mean) in the shortest possible time. The zone will help achieve this objective by addressing the source of the problem; the most polluting vehicles on the road. Birmingham follows Bath in becoming one of the first cities outside of London to introduce a Clean Air Zone.

The Clean Air Zone daily fee runs midnight to midnight. Payments can be paid online using the Government's payment system or over the phone by calling 0300 029 8888 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 4:30pm).

A range of temporary exemption and financial support measures are currently open for application for those who live or work in the city centre that meet the conditions. Drivers are advised to ensure they apply for these as soon as possible.

The Council’s Clean Air Zone Team has been working to process applications for exemption permits and engage with communities to ensure residents are well informed about the incoming changes. The impact since launch has seen 140,630 new users* visit the website.

The council would like to remind drivers to ensure they check if they will be subject to the charge using the Government’s Vehicle Checker tool.

Background notes

Birmingham's Clean Air Zone, which is everywhere within the A4540 Middleway (but not the Middleway itself) will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

More than 300 signs will be installed on the road network surrounding the boundary to inform drivers they are approaching the zone. Vehicles that do not meet the emission standards for the zone will be detected by an ANPR camera (automatic number plate recognition).Drivers are advised to check if they’ll be charged using the Government’s Vehicle Checker tool.

• the day of your visit
• six days after the day of your visit

This gives a total payment window of 13 days.

Further information on the payment system can be found on the Brum Breathes website.

*statistic provided by Google Analytics