In response to news that the introduction of Oxford’s Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) is due to be postponed and Birmingham City Council and Leeds City Council have requested postponements of their Clean Air Zone (CAZs), Natalie Chapman, Head of Urban Policy at FTA comments:
“As the business organisation representing the logistics sector, FTA supports the decision made by Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council to postpone the introduction of the ZEZ; we also support Birmingham City Council and Leeds City Council in their requests to government to have their CAZs postponed. Delaying the introduction of these schemes will allow businesses operating within the logistics sector to focus their efforts on ensuring the public, supermarkets and other retailers all receive the essential items needed during this pandemic. We urge other cities with impending clean air schemes to follow suit; with logistics businesses facing unprecedented demand for food, hygiene products, medicines and other basic items, the right framework must be in place to support these workers through these extraordinary times and to keep the supply chain intact.”
Ms Chapman continues:
“FTA fully and wholeheartedly supports the need to improve air quality. It is simply that these schemes pose a major change, and currently our industry cannot undertake the work and planning it needs to do in order to achieve smooth compliance or be certain it has the funds to make these changes. As well as the administrative difficulties logistics is experiencing, supplies of technology, equipment and trucks are already being disrupted and more effects are expected. This will further hinder efforts to comply with these schemes and service our cities efficiently.”
Efficient logistics is vital to keep the UK trading, directly having an impact on more than seven million people employed in the making, selling and moving of goods. With Brexit, new technology and other disruptive forces driving change in the way goods move across borders and through the supply chain, logistics has never been more important to UK plc. FTA is one of the biggest business groups in the UK, supporting, shaping and standing up for safe and efficient logistics. We are the only business group in the UK that represents all of logistics, with members from the road, rail, sea and air industries, as well as the buyers of freight services such as retailers and manufacturers whose businesses depend on the efficient movement of goods.
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