Bath Clean Air Zone

Where is Bath's Clean Air Zone, and how do I tell if a street is inside it?

Bath's zone covers the city centre, about 1.2 square miles on GOV.UK's figures. The council publishes the line as a map rather than a list of streets: an interactive map on its website and a printable PDF. The charging order was made on 28 January 2021.

The printable map labels the roads and landmarks it is drawn against: the A4 Upper Bristol Road, Weston Road, the A36 Lower Bristol Road, the A367 Wells Road, the A3062 Prior Park Road, the A36 Warminster Road, Bathwick Hill, the A4 London Road, Camden Road, Lansdown Road, Queen Square, the Royal Crescent, Royal Victoria Park, Cleveland Place, North Parade and Pulteney Bridge. It does not say in words which side of the line each one sits, so zoom in on the interactive version for a particular street.

For a destination, the council's postcode checker is quicker, but it is only a guide: it works from the centre point of each postcode, so a postcode straddling the boundary can give the wrong answer. Signs back it up on the road. Advance warning signs sit where you can still choose another route, entry signs mark where the zone starts, exit signs mark where it ends, and repeater signs inside remind you that cameras are in use. Every sign carries a white on green cloud with the letter C for Bath's class.

Which vehicles pay £9 or £100 in Bath?

Bath chose class C, so the charge falls on taxis, private hire vehicles, minibuses, vans, pick-ups, buses, coaches and lorries that miss the standard, whether they are used privately or for work. Cars and motorbikes are never charged unless the car is a taxi or private hire vehicle. The council's reason was deliberate: traffic management in Queen Square was, in its words, a necessary compromise to avoid charging private cars.

Body shape is not the test; the vehicle category on the record is. Cars, SUVs, four by fours and campervans in category M1 pay nothing, but some campervans, SUVs and four by fours are recorded as N1 goods vehicles and are charged like a van. Compliant vehicles are Euro 6/VI diesel or newer, Euro 4/IV petrol or newer, fully electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, CVRAS retrofits and, on the council's list, all hybrid vehicles.

How do I check a van, taxi or campervan for Bath's zone?

Use the GOV.UK Drive in a Clean Air Zone service with the registration number; it gives the Bath answer for that registration. It only checks vehicles registered in the UK, yet charges apply to any non-compliant chargeable vehicle in the zone wherever it is registered, apart from private cars and motorbikes. A foreign van or coach owner has to work it out from the Euro standard in the vehicle's own papers.

If the checker has your details wrong, or cannot find the vehicle, contact GOV.UK's Clean Air Zone Support through its online form or on 0300 029 8888, 8am to 7pm on weekdays and 8am to 2pm on Saturdays. Unless told otherwise, keep paying within the seven days while the record is sorted. Once the DVLA details are updated and the vehicle is shown to be compliant or not chargeable, the council can refund what you paid, so keep the receipts. Questions about exemptions, refunds and PCNs go to the council itself on 01225 396189 or caz_businesssupport@bathnes.gov.uk.

When must I pay Bath's charge, and can I get it back if I cancel?

You can pay up to six days ahead, on the day, or in the six days after, with the charging day running midnight to midnight. The council puts the deadline plainly: pay within seven days including the day of travel, so a Monday trip must be paid by the following Sunday. It adds that you will not receive a reminder and that Auto Pay is not available. Payment is by debit or credit card on GOV.UK, pay as you go, and a business account can hold several vehicles, account managers and a bank payment agreement, but journeys still have to be declared within six days.

One daily payment covers every entry that day. A vehicle parked in the zone that does not move is not charged, but driving in the zone either side of midnight means two charges.

Advance payments can be cancelled, but only before the day. Apply for a refund before the journey date and the council repays by the same method, minus a £2.50 administration fee for each vehicle and each daily charge cancelled. Nothing is refunded on the day of travel or afterwards. Pay only through GOV.UK: the council warns of unofficial third-party sites, some pushed by unsolicited texts and calls, that fail to pay the charge for you, and it cannot refund money paid to them.

What does a Bath Clean Air Zone PCN cost, and how do I challenge it?

Miss the window and the council sends a £120 penalty charge notice, and you still owe the £9 or £100 charge on top. The 28 days to pay run from the date of service, which Bath counts as two working days after the post date on the front of the notice. Pay within 14 days of that date and the penalty drops to £60, plus the charge. The PCN number looks like BN12345678.

Pay online, by card on the 24 hour automated line on 0300 456 0632, which costs 3p a minute plus your provider's access charge, or by cheque or postal order payable to B&NES Council, with the PCN number on the back, to Bath Clean Air Zone, PO Box 5475, Bath, BA1 0AH. Post-dated cheques are refused and no receipts are issued.

If you intend to challenge, do not pay first: the council treats any payment as accepting liability, closes the case and will not refund it. Challenge in writing, online or by post, within 28 days of the date of service, using the PCN number, the registration and the web code printed on the notice; challenges by phone or in person are not accepted. A challenge made after the first 14 days loses the £60 rate if it fails. A rejection letter explains how to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, whose decision is final, and the council points to PATROL UK for independent advice.

Which Bath exemptions and discounts can I still apply for?

National exemptions, such as the disabled tax classes, historic and military vehicles, need no application and work in every English clean air zone. Bath's charging order also treats hybrids, vehicles built or converted to run on LPG or compressed natural gas, and steam vehicles as non-chargeable. Bath's own local exemptions and discounts are run through the council's MiPermit service rather than GOV.UK, must be approved before you travel, and can take up to 14 days; until approval, pay the normal charge.

Many launch exemptions have ended. Wheelchair accessible taxis and private hire vehicles, community transport, Blue Badge holders, community health, education and social care workers, and vehicles covered by the financial assistance scheme's declined finance terms lost their exemption on 14 March 2023. Showman's, general haulage, recovery and special vehicles, and volunteer vehicles supporting the emergency services, followed on 14 March 2025, paying from 00:00 on 15 March 2025. The emergency services exemption, originally due to expire on 14 March 2025, takes no new applications; existing fleets are covered by signed memorandums of understanding.

Is Bath's Clean Air Zone financial assistance scheme still open?

No. The council says you can no longer apply because the scheme has closed and all of its funding is allocated. It offered interest-free finance and grants to cut the cost of replacing or adapting a charged vehicle, launched in autumn 2020, and drew over 1,500 applicants. The council's annual report puts the result at 949 vehicles replaced with cleaner versions by the end of 2024.

With the grants gone, a van or taxi owner's choices in Bath are to pay the daily charge, replace the vehicle at their own cost, or fit a CVRAS approved retrofit. The council makes the point that a compliant vehicle also avoids charges in other zones, Bristol included.

How did Bath come to charge vans and taxis but not cars?

In 2017 the government directed the council to cut nitrogen dioxide in the shortest possible time, and the government is funding all of the work, with the Joint Air Quality Unit verifying it independently. The council's technical work concluded that a charging zone was the only measure that could reach the legal limit in time. After a public consultation in October and November 2018 it chose a class C zone with traffic management at Queen Square, and the Cabinet decision followed in spring 2019.

The charging order was made on 28 January 2021, varied later that year, and charging began on 15 March 2021. The council publishes quarterly and annual monitoring reports on air quality, traffic and compliance against the plan in its business case.

Has Bath's Clean Air Zone brought pollution under the legal limit?

Yes, on the government's own test. The legal limit for nitrogen dioxide is an annual average of 40 micrograms per cubic metre, and the Joint Air Quality Unit has confirmed that Bath reached what it calls State 3: every measured concentration in scope at or below that limit for a second calendar year. The council is now working towards State 4, showing it is likely to stay there.

By the end of 2024 the council reports an average fall in nitrogen dioxide of 40 per cent inside the zone, 13 micrograms per cubic metre, and 41 per cent in urban areas outside it, 10.4 micrograms. By the end of 2022 it had counted a 71 per cent drop in polluting vehicles driving in the zone compared with the first week of charging. The council cites estimates that nitrogen dioxide contributes to as many as 36,000 early deaths in the UK each year.

Does a 2014 diesel car pay to drive into Bath?

Not if it is a private car. This is where Bath differs most from its neighbour Bristol.

What does Bath's zone cost a builder with an older diesel van?

A builder working on city centre jobs pays for each day the van moves in the zone, and nothing for days it stays parked on site.

Does a visiting motorhome pay £100 a day in Bath?

It depends on how the motorhome is recorded. A campervan in category M1 pays nothing, a smaller one recorded as an N1 goods vehicle pays £9 like a van, and a larger one classed as a private HGV pays £100 unless its keeper has registered it for the £9 discount before the trip.