MORE than £11.5 million has been raised in payments and fines since the district's Clean Air Zone (CAZ) was introduced, new figures show.

Under the scheme, commercial vehicles that fail to meet certain emission standards are charged a daily fee to enter Shipley and Bradford. Ordinary passenger cars are exempt.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that Bradford Council had received £5,549,780.30 in payments up to the end of March.

The sum – paid by drivers entering the zone with non-compliant vehicles – was amassed between September, 2022, and March 31.

Of this amount, £1,148,484 will be paid to central Government to cover the cost of its services associated with the CAZ.

In the same period, the total payments received from penalty charge notices associated with the CAZ reached £6,132,570.

But a large number of vehicle drivers still hadn't paid fines or multiple penalty charge notices.

A whopping 204,726 motorists were clocked driving through the CAZ without paying the charge.

The figure includes vehicles that have been captured a number of times and received multiple notices.

Councillor Debbie Davies, deputy leader of the Conservative group on Bradford Council, says: "I am shocked that the amount in penalty charge income continues to be substantially higher than that from non-compliant vehicles entering the zone.

"Clearly more needs to be done to make drivers aware there is a charge to pay and I suspect those that get caught out are probably not local and haven't thought to check before travelling to Bradford."

A council spokesperson says the CAZ has "significantly reduced air pollution", with automatic monitoring stations recording the lowest level ever of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the zone area.

Throughout the zone, NO2 has fallen to levels lower than those recorded during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, when traffic levels reduced by 50 per cent.

NO2 is linked to increases in mortality and hospital admissions for respiratory illnesses – one of the key reasons for the CAZ being introduced in Bradford district.

Bradford Council said there had been a considerable reduction in non-compliant vehicles driving in the zone and that businesses and residents had been upgrading to cleaner, less polluting vehicles.

Money from the CAZ can only be reinvested into schemes and measures which improve air quality.

A total of 48 schools in the district have been awarded grants, together worth more than £440,000, to improve air quality at their sites.