THERE is just one week left for people to have their say on radical plans to charge vehicles for driving into Newcastle city centre and restrict traffic on the Tyne Bridge.

The final public consultation on a proposed Clean Air Zone (CAZ) to cut pollution in the city closes next Monday, November 25.

Under the plans, daily tolls of up to £50 will be imposed on heavy-polluting vehicles coming into Newcastle from 2021. 

Coaches, buses, and lorries that do not meet emissions standards will be charged £50 a day, with a £12.50 charge for taxis and vans.

Private cars have been spared any fees for now, though council leaders have said that could change in the future.

But people driving cars into the city will face another major change, because general traffic over the Tyne Bridge is expected to be cut to one lane in each direction rather than the current two.

Newcastle and Gateshead council bosses have said they hope that the disruption caused will encourage more people to use public transport instead.

The remaining northbound lane on the bridge would be used as a bus lane, with another lane on the southbound side to be closed for overdue maintenance work on the historic crossing.

Just 1,200 people have taken part in this six-week round of the consultation – far fewer than the record-breaking 19,000 who responded to previous plans for a more severe CAZ earlier this year.

After that first consultation, the councils abandoned competing visions for either a much larger charging zone in which high-polluting private cars would also have been hit with fees and a toll on the Tyne Bridge which would have affected all vehicles.

A spokesperson for the authorities said: “Consultation on our final clean air proposals will end at noon on Monday 25 November. We will analyse the feedback and consider changes at this point.

“Cabinet meetings will be held in mid-December in order to agree the submission of our plans, including the measures we think are necessary to mitigate the impact on people and businesses, to government. These measures will be informed by the consultation and the plan will be submitted before the end of this year.

“Alongside this we are undertaking a procurement process to enable us to quickly deliver measures in the future.

“Following this process, and taking into account feedback from government on the level of funding made available for measures to minimise impact, agreement will be sought from full council for the final plans, incorporating the delivery costs.”

Also included the proposals are possible grants of up to £16,000 to help people affected by the tolls upgrade their vehicles, new delivery hubs for goods vehicles outside of the city, and changes on the Central Motorway to prevent traffic from merging on and off the slip road between the New Bridge Street and Swan House junctions.

The consultation runs until midday on November 25 at breathe-cleanair.com