Purpose

In November 2022, Bristol City Council (BCC)
established a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) that charges all non-compliant
vehicles that enter its boundary. Recognising that the introduction
of a non-compliance charge could potentially have disproportionate
negative impacts on residents, visitors and businesses, BCC
negotiated a £42m package of mitigation measures with the
Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) to support the transition to cleaner
vehicles.
A key element of the CAZ mitigation package (as set out in the
approved Full Business Case) was to provide support to
‘first/last mile’ freight deliveries into and out of
the CAZ through provision of micro-consolidation hubs, which are
last mile consolidation and distribution nodes located within or
next to urban areas that enable optimisation and consolidation of
freight deliveries. A £2m Clean Air Fund grant was earmarked
for this initiative.
Since October 2023, extensive work has been undertaken by the
Project Team in collaboration with BCC officers,
suppliers/consultants, freight
the initial three pilot sites at College Street, West End and Frog
Lane car parks are scheduled for delivery by June/July 2025.
Successful delivery and operation of the pilot sites will inform
the viability of a ‘permanent long-term
solution’.
The level of confidence for delivery of the initial three pilot
sites is high based on due diligence carried out to date, including
feasibility study/business case development, soft market testing,
stakeholder consultations and recently submitted planning
applications for the three pilot sites.
Additional expenditure of £350k (draw down from the £2m
grant) is required to procure suppliers to support BCC on
negotiations with prospective operators, submission of full
planning applications for the pilot sites, preparation of
associated documentation (technical drawings, planning statements,
etc), drafting of operator lease/licence agreements,
procurement/appointment of facilities manager (‘hub
manager’), procurement of movable/fixed assets at pilot
sites, as well as monitoring and evaluation of pilot sites.

Content

Approval of additional expenditure of
£350k to progress delivery of three pilot sites by June/July
2025.