The Clean Air Fund has now closed to new applications.
The funding has been distributed to help owners of HGVs, buses, coaches, taxi and private hire vehicles directly impacted by the CAZ.
The Clean Air Zone (CAZ) launched in November 2021 and some vehicles that travel through it face a daily charge. These include non-compliant taxis, private hire vehicles (PHVs), buses, coaches, and heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
If your business replaces or upgrades non-compliant vehicles with cleaner, greener ones, you’ll avoid the daily charge. We’ll also have fewer polluting vehicles in the city.
Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs)
You can access £1,500 per vehicle to help you upgrade to a compliant taxi or PHV via purchase or lease.
At the moment, there is enough funding to support all active non-compliant vehicles licensed with Portsmouth City Council. This could change if more licensed non-compliant vehicles that aren’t currently being used return to operation. If this happens, we’ll need to assess and prioritise each application for funding.
A CAZ-compliant vehicle is a one that is Euro 6 standard or newer if diesel, or a Euro 4 standard or newer if petrol. There is no requirement for replacement vehicles to be electric to access the fund.
You’ll need to apply for a grant and have received your approval letter before purchasing a replacement vehicle. Grants can’t be paid to anyone who applies after buying a new vehicle.
If you’re looking to buy a vehicle to license as a taxi or PHV, you should make sure that you can license this for use with Portsmouth City Council and that it is compliant with the Clean Air Zone euro standard.
Since January 2022, any vehicles that are over 4 years old cannot be newly licensed, so you should make sure it can be licensed and that you can drive it in the CAZ before you buy a used vehicle. Please contact us or visit our licensing page to check if a vehicle can be licensed.
If you’re selling an older, non-compliant vehicle, you should make it clear to the buyer that it can’t be licensed as a taxi or PHV with Portsmouth City Council. You can still sell or transfer the ownership for private use. You can also sell it for scrap.
Taxis, Private Hire Vehicles (PHVs) and Wheelchair accessible vehicles
This funding is now closed following successful take up
Buses and coaches
This funding is now closed following successful take up.
Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs)
This funding is now closed following successful take up
Can I apply for funding towards Electric Vehicles?
If you’re interested in investing in EVs, the government’s own funding may help with this. Visit the government’s plug-in grants page to find out more.
Please contact us at CleanerAir@portsmouthcc.gov.uk if you have any questions.
