Clean air fines levied on drivers being put to good use, local authority insists

By Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter

Hammersmith and Fulham council is spending millions of pounds secured via £65 clean air fines on schemes that include new parking bays and cycle routes.

The local authority made almost £12 million from its Clean Air Neighbourhoods (CAN) in south Fulham last year, most of which went on overhead and maintenance costs.

The council has now revealed, however, that more than £3m has either been spent on, or earmarked for, a range of environmental projects, with other, larger schemes in the pipeline.

The council also runs two CANs in south Fulham, one either side of Wandsworth Bridge Road, in a bid to further cut emissions.

The first, to its east, was set up in July 2020 and made permanent the following December. The scheme to the west was implemented from February 2023, with the council’s cabinet making it permanent last month.

Designed to deter out-of-borough drivers from rat-running through residential side streets and bring pollution levels down, the CANs involve cameras being installed at key locations, with the council issuing penalty charges issued to those caught in the zones.

Residents with cars registered in the borough, black cabs, carers, business visitors and others with exemptions do not have to pay the fine.

Last year, the two CANs pulled in £11.8m in fines – £7.8m from the western scheme, and £4m from the eastern. The council, however, predicts the more-recently established western CAN will reduce to about £2.6m in 2024, due to drivers becoming accustomed to the scheme.

The council has now revealed the projects being funded by more than £3m of the income received via fines from the two CANs.

These include a major street makeover of Wandsworth Bridge Road and New King’s Road, including new bike racks, high quality seating, signage, hanging baskets, planters and mini-parklets and a new safe cycle route connecting Putney Bridge to Fulham Broadway and Imperial Wharf.

Other schemes include new zebra crossings, cycle hangers, trees and wildflower verges in the area.

A council spokesman added there are longer-term, more expensive schemes also being worked on.

He added: “Around 15,000 fewer cars a day are using the residential side streets of south Fulham as commuter cut-throughs. Pollution from congestion has become a thing of the past in residential streets, which are now quieter, cleaner and safer.

“Any surplus from the fines goes into our ambitious programme of hundreds more trees, new safe cycle routes, better flood drainage and green landscaping, and encouraging play streets and café culture.”

Pictured top: A map of the South Fulham CAN (Picture: LBHF)