Bristol Clean Air Zone

Possibly hydrogen vehicles will be the ones that come to the fore but different types of pollution are causing problems at the moment, whilst one thing gets cured or improved another increases. It's the sheer volume of traffic in many places and the particulates in the air and on the road surfaces, even tyres produce pollution.

They've always been keen to reduce pollution, they have car sharing lanes and lots of cycle routes etc. I think along with several other cities they have to clean up their air due to the latest Government strategy. 

With the probable closure of Baltic Wharf site, this will be another city that I will not now visit and spend my money in.

You can't please everyone! Something has to be done in my opinion. I remember Sheffield city centre back in the sixties, the air was thick with pollution even then, better today but we could and must do better. so what's it going to be?

It has gone very quiet in the last couple of years when Cambridge city council announced they were going to do the same ,until they were faced with the true costs of doing it by the bus and delivery companies who would require access

Of course you’re right we can’t go on like we are now. Most people accept that until it personally affects them. 

This thread is proceeding in an alternative reality, as has already been said, there won’t be a Baltic Wharf site to travel to in 2021 or whenever.

I wish we had a more constructive way forward than banning everything without considering what happens instead. Given the current state of affairs with electric powered - charging/distribution infrastructure, limitations of vehicles, cost etc (not to mention the much ignored polluting aspects of battery powered manufacturing), the blind faith in electric is laughable unless you can afford a Tesla. So called Hybrids are just a fudge. Like millions of others, my daughter lives on a street of victorian terrace houses. Like many young people she is passionately committed to saving the planet and tries to do all the right things including running a hybrid car. She has to park on the street, so charging it is a nightmare. The Council and MP have been completely disinterested in her suggestions to improve the situation, each blaming each other for the lack of action/progress.

Not sure I share that vision of the future. Bristol is a good example of a transformed city, where (young) people have flocked back to city centre living in their thousands fuelled by trendy housing developments aimed at that market - Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and others ditto. Cultural, retail, hospitality, employment, educational facilities have followed them to create a very vibrant city scene. Lorries in cities may be less evident, but that’s been more than compensated by ‘white van man’ delivering all those online purchases which is slowly but surely killing the traditional retail giants. Those big city centre buildings no longer wanted by retailers, in turn become student accommodation and/or high quality flats for young professionals. Walk from Baltic Wharf to the Harbourside and city centre in the evening. It’s about as far from deserted as you’ll find in any city. They’ll even be plenty of people out on boats rowing in the dark. However, do that same walk in the mid 1990s and it would be a very different story. Consumption of services in Bristol has never been higher and delivery vehicles are and will continue to play a huge part in that.

North America isn’t a good comparative example, they are a different species altogether!

How really committed are the 'powers that be'? Do we see a requirement that all new builds have solar roofs, all those vast acreages of factory/distribution warehouses required to install solar within five years? Where are the major tidal flow installations? How are we really going to generate the clean energy we need?

The irony. All those years of driving over Avonmouth Bridge gazing in wonder at all those cars off the docks......

Yep agree brue. My OH looked into hydrogen option years ago. They are playing catch up on that as well. There’s little firm commitment about anything to be honest.

For me it transcends political parties, it needs a dedicated cross party team that will keep going regardless of any change of Government. But the utter shambles our country is in at the moment, and the sheer ineptness of the bulk of those who represent us, all parties, is at an all time low. You do wonder how much worse things can get. 

At some point, perhaps when we downsize, I can see us getting an electric car or similar, depends where we move to and what commitments we still have. We get snow every year round us, so we are never stuck with 4x4, we help out neighbours and friends if required. But at some point we will get to just MH and one car. We want a firm indication of how fuel is going to be taxed in future before we commit to something. It’s a good situation economy wise for electric vehicles at moment, but as they become more mainstream and take over, I can see charging points at home being on a separate tariff. Something will have to replace taxes coined in at the pumps. Might of course be Road Usage fees, but as I said earlier, at the moment it’s a shambles, piecemeal jigsaw. Yorkshire has the least recharging points around the country on average I think, certainly not as good as most other places.

So you don,t think this will kill off the best site that caravan club have,

there are no electric cars capable of towing and will not be for years

motorhomes have not even been looked at to be electric.

so you have time slot to get in and out so you are trapped in the site until the council let you out without a fine.

Thanks brue. If we went for something eco, we’ed prefer something truly eco, even down to how electricity to power it is produced. I did notice a very nice looking Plug In Mini the other day, but haven’t checked out anything about it.

We don’t visit many big cities, although I could have been tempted to a few days at BW had it been closer. London we do by train. Manchester Centre is frankly the most horrendous place we have been for decades, we couldn’t wait to get out. Sheffield is now a contrast of high rise new build and grotty ghettos. Leeds? Haven’t been in last ten years despite it only being an easy half hour run up M1. Parts were up in flames last night, bit of a riot. Only been to Birmingham once, it was a dump in the 1980’s, expect it’s a city of contrasts now. Edinburgh is lovely, but small relatively speaking. Glasgow? Only driven through rushing to Gourock for a ferry. Exeter....very nice. Other than for special historical sites, Cities are never close to top of my must see destinations. I like wide open spaces, natural scenery.

Yes, there are some lovely very individual sites, great for a specific purpose. 

Just had a look, that Mini I saw was a hybrid, but they are looking at doing something fully electric soon I think. 

Yes, strapping yourself to a fast moving tank of compressed hydrogen, might be a little adventurous? Elon Musk described hydrogen fuel cell technology as “incredibly dumb”. Maybe he was on to something or could it just be vested interest? Either way, he has some form when it comes to producing battery powered vehicles that are actually useful outside of the urban environment. There’s also the not insignificant problem of all the even bigger tanks of compressed hydrogen that will be required to refill the cars.