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A controversial scheme which will see some motorists charged to drive in Birmingham city centre has been delayed.

Problems with implementing the so-called clean air zone means the scheme will not now be introduced until at least next July 2020 - seven months later than planned.

Drivers of higher-polluting cars, taxis and vans will have to pay £8 while the fee will be £50 for lorries and buses which don't meet the standard.

But Birmingham City Council blamed the Government for the delay, saying a vehicle-checking tool being supplied by Whitehall would not be ready until December, two months later than planned.

There also appears to be a wrangle about which body will be responsible for collecting payments generated by the scheme - the council said the Government had pledged to deliver a system but now expected local authorities to do it instead.

Birmingham is working on the project with Leeds with the aim of improving air quality after checks showed parts of both cities were expected to fall short of legal standards by next year.

Air pollution has been identified by Public Health England as the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK.

Evidence shows it can cause or worsen a range of lung and heart conditions including asthma, chronic bronchitis, chronic heart disease and stroke.

But the delay to the clean air zone was condemned as "unacceptable" by Birmingham's transport and environment boss, Coun Waseem Zaffar .

"he council has been fully on track to implement the Clean Air Zone from January 2020 on the basis of assurances from the Government that the vehicle checker would be in place by October this year," he said.

“However, the delivery of this essential online tool has now been delayed to December 2019, which means we are unable to go ahead with our Clean Air Zone in January as planned.

"To do so would be completely unfair on residents, businesses and visitors to the city who would only have a matter of weeks, if not days, to make key choices about their travel behaviour or upgrade their vehicles.

"This is simply unacceptable.

"While this does mean people will have longer to make these changes, it will also delay Birmingham in achieving air quality compliance, leaving our city exposed to dirty air for longer than anticipated.

"However, despite these challenges, we will continue to work closely with the Government and other cities to achieve compliance in the shortest possible time because our priority remains ensuring that the people of Birmingham have access to clean air, as is their basic human right."