Worcester Green Party Councillor Louis Stephen was invited to comment on local BBC radio on the new scheme in Birmingham that has been introduced to reduce the number of polluting vehicles entering the city centre. See clip below.
Louis made the point that we should be considering a similar scheme for Worcester but that we need to invest in alternatives to cars like investment in public transport and active travel BEFORE we introduce any scheme to Worcester.
Louis also made the point that this is an equalities issue as often the areas with the highest levels of pollution were also the areas that were the least affluent areas of the city.
Asked about the negative effects such a scheme might have on local businesses he made the point that congestion also costs billions of pounds to the UK economy each year and rather than being a drag these measures by cutting wasteful congestion will make our city more prosperous.