Bristol Clean Air Zone: ANPR camera firm lands major contract to help deliver scheme later this year

Bristol-based company SEA has been awarded a contract to help deliver the city’s long-awaited Clean Air Zone, due to launch in September this year.

The agreement will see the installation of the firm’s 49 ROADflow Fusion cameras at key locations across Bristol - although these locations are yet to be revealed.

Bristol City Council has been under pressure from the Government to reduce pollution to within legal limits in the city by 2023.

The CAZ will help the authority achieve these targets by charging drivers of older, more polluting vehicles to enter it, with schemes already underway in nearby Bath and Birmingham.

The ROADflow Fusion cameras will detect vehicles that don’t meet the Clean Air Zone’s emission standards by performing live identification via ANPR, examining information such as a engine type and Euro rating to identify if the vehicle compliant.

Alastair Cobb, head of transport at SEA, which has an office in Bristol and has also worked with Transport for London and Network Rail, said: “SEA is well placed to support organisations, such as Bristol City Council, through the implementation of Clean Air Zones thanks to our innovative traffic enforcement systems, including ROADflow Fusion.

“This intelligent technology offers the flexibility to support a wide range of Clean Air and Low Emission Zone designs and enables schemes to be changed or repurposed over time as requirements evolve.”

David Bunting, head of Traffic and Highways Maintenance at Bristol City Council, said: “The Clean Air Zone will not only reduce air pollution but also help people change how they travel, delivering a cleaner, greener and healthier city for years to come.

“SEA’s ROADflow Fusion technology will allow us to effectively enforce the zone when it starts operating later this year.”

The Council are yet to confirm an official launch date for the CAZ, but last month Bristol mayor Marvin Rees told BristolWorld he was ‘confident’ it would launch in late summer as planned.