Coventry City Council was instructed on March 26th 2019 to implement a Class D charging Clean Air Zone (CAZ) to curb the air pollution levels in the city. The council’s alternative measures that included traffic limitation on a few roads were rejected by DEFRAs ministers who believed Coventry would not be able to handle the nitrogen dioxide levels that were set to surpass the EU’s limits (Ogden 2019). The CAZ in Coventry will charge the drivers of every vehicle if high emission standards are not achieved. DEFRA have instructed the Coventry City Council to implement the CAZ as soon as possible in order to comply with the NO2 levels by 2023 (Ogden 2019).
March 2019 Government Direction has been superseded by the Direction issued by the Minister in February 2020. This removes any requirement for the City Council to implement a CAZ, and instead instructs the Council to implement an alternative package of measures.