The first clean air zone in England outside London launched in Bath today, with some people now having to pay to drive into the city centre.
High emission vans, private hire vehicles and taxis will be charged £9 a day to enter.
Drivers of non-compliant buses, coaches and HGVs will face a £100 daily fee.
The penalty for not paying is £120.
Parts of the city often exceed legal limits for nitrogen dioxide pollution.
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Bath and North East Somerset council said the move could cut emissions to legal levels within months.
Councillor Sarah Warren said it was a “public health issue” and emissions from vehicles needed to be cut.
“We know that nitrogen dioxide levels in the city are too high. This is a public health issue and this pollutant comes mainly from vehicle exhausts so it’s absolutely vital that we bring down the levels," she said.
Ms Warren said that the council had been “working very hard” to contact businesses to ensure they were aware of the new regulations.
“We’ve contacted 9,000 (businesses) directly. We’re doing everything we can to engage with businesses and we don’t want any to fall through the net,” she added.
Bus company First has upgraded its fleet so it meets the clean air zone standards.
“It’s been a very significant impact on our business,” managing director James Freeman said.
“It’s made us do things which we would have perhaps done more slowly if we didn’t have a clean air zone being introduced right now.”
Nearby towns fear drivers will reroute through their communities to avoid the charge, making pollution there worse.
Wiltshire Council says it fears drivers will avoid paying to enter the centre of Bath by using smaller roads and its leader, Phillip Whitehead, says the clean air zone “must not impact air quality” in the county.
But the nearby towns of Bradford on Avon and Westbury are concerned that many drivers will reroute through its communities to avoid paying the charge, aggravating their existing problems with congestion and air quality.
Other cities, including Birmingham, Portsmouth, Bristol and Oxford, are set to bring in similar rules this year.
It will rack up hefty charges for drivers – though emissions contribute to 40,000 premature annual deaths.
