Drive in a Clean Air Zone

To comply with EU regulations, the UK government needed to reduce air pollution in cities across England and Wales. The solution was to introduce charges for high-polluting vehicles entering designated Clean Air Zones. I joined the project at the beginning of the beta phase.

The alpha phase had shown that to support the national roll-out, we needed to build three public-facing digital services, and five back-end interfaces for internal stakeholders.

Older, polluting vehicles are causing significant effects on public health. How do we reduce pollution by stopping those vehicles driving in pollution hotspots?

• Significant public backlash to the concept of Clean Air Zones
• Drivers didn't know if their vehicle was polluting
• Drivers didn't know where the zones were
• Business disruption within the zones
• Large impact on vehicle-based businesses

The team conducted over 60 user interviews were conducted, alongside attendance at industry events. Key findings included:

• Many drivers didn't know whether they would have to pay the charge or not
• Haulage companies could not pay per vehicle, per trip — they needed a way to pay in bulk and track those payments

Three public-facing services:

• A tool for drivers to check if their vehicle meets clean air standards
• A payment service for drivers to pay a charge if their vehicle does not meet standards
• A business account allowing fleet managers to check and pay for multiple vehicles at once

Five back-end interfaces for internal stakeholders — including local authorities, the DVLA, and other government departments — to input and access data related to Clean Air Zones.

• Created clear, user-centred content from technical information to ensure services were easy to understand and use
• Delivered the right information at the right time, including support content: maps, exemptions, discounts, and customer support resources
• Used behavioural science to encourage people to switch to cleaner vehicles
• Ensured all content followed GOV.UK style with consistent tone and language across all touchpoints
• Prepared for two GDS (Government Digital Service) assessments
• Prototyped and tested a unified start page to support GDS decision-making
• Worked closely with the user research team to improve the service based on ongoing research and testing
• Collaborated with business analysts to resolve technical and service-level issues
• Engaged with a broad range of stakeholders to ensure content and messaging consistency throughout the entire user journey

• A measurable reduction in pollution across all zones
• Increased revenue for the cities that implemented Clean Air Zones