The idea of a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Greater Manchester has been flirted with for some time but now an updated Clean Air Plan is being submitted to the government, as the latest air quality data shows improvements on local roads across the city-region. All 10 of Greater Manchester’s local authorities have previously been legally directed by government to bring nitrogen dioxide within legal limits as soon as possible and by 2026 at the latest.
Clean air zones, which are already in operation in many cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Bristol and London, aim to improve air quality by cutting the number of high polluting vehicles on the road. However, the rollout of the Greater Manchester CAZ has been on hold since February 2022 after a backlash over the potential of charging drivers of certain vehicles.
Will vehicles be charged for entering the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone (CAZ)?
The preferred plan being submitted would still mean that there would be no charges for any vehicle driven on a road in the city-region, as well as investment in new buses and a fund to help taxi drivers upgrade their vehicles. Modelling shows the plan would meet a legal requirement to improve air quality by 2026 at the latest, rather than in 2025, as stated in GM’s 2023 submission to government.
An alternative plan that models a benchmark charging Clean Air Zone in the centre of Manchester and bordering parts of Salford would not meet the legal deadline.
How has Greater Manchester reduced air pollution so far?
A key element of the proposed plan is investment in cleaner buses, and latest figures show improvements in the Greater Manchester bus fleet is already helping to improve air quality. Monitoring data for air quality in 2023 showed that air pollution has fallen compared to 2022 – and is significantly lower than levels recorded pre-pandemic in 2019.
Five years ago, air quality monitoring data showed 129 locations of nitrogen dioxide exceedance. This has now fallen to 64 sites across the city region.
The gradual improvement has been partly driven by the investment in hundreds of cleaner buses, including Zero Emission Buses for the Bee Network. Prior to franchising less than 1% of vehicles were electric and that is now more than 10% in areas where buses are under local control. Greater Manchester is on target for a third of its bus fleet to be electric by 2027 and is working towards an ambition to have an all-electric bus fleet by 2030.
How does Greater Manchester plan to reduce air pollution?
Using £86.7m of Clean Air funding that has already been allocated to Greater Manchester, the plan would use £51.1m for 40 new Zero Emission Buses (ZEBs), depot electrification in Manchester and Bolton, and 77 new Euro VI clean air compliant buses (whereas the previous plan was for 64 new ZEBs and depot electrification in Manchester, Bolton and Middleton).
There is no change to proposals that would see £30.5m made available to help owners of all eligible hackney carriage and private hire vehicles to upgrade to a cleaner vehicle and £5m invested in local traffic measures to better manage traffic flow – and bring nitrogen dioxide within legal limits – on Regent Road and Quay Street.
Leader of Bury Council and Clean Air lead for Greater Manchester, Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, said: “Poor air quality affects us all and particularly the most vulnerable among us – the young, old and those with health conditions. We have a longstanding commitment to cleaning up our air and Greater Manchester has carried out a tremendous amount of work to get us to a place where we are seeing air quality improvements.
“The latest air quality monitoring data shows a really encouraging trend and indicates that the steps we’ve already taken to invest in cleaner buses through the Bee Network are making real inroads to cleaning up the air we all breathe. And we’ve done this without the hardship to residents and businesses that a charging Clean Air Zone could cause.
“Given some of the changes that have occurred in the last nine months, there was a need to adapt and update our proposals for an investment-led, non-charging GM Clean Air Plan. We’re now in a position where that work has been done and, subject to approvals, we can submit our updated plan to the new government as soon as possible and await their decision.”
What happens next?
The updated Clean Air Plan has been published today in a report to the Greater Manchester Air Quality Administration Committee. The committee is recommended to approve and submit the revised plan to the government’s Joint Air Quality Unit when it meets on Tuesday 1 October. Government will then decide what the final Clean Air Plan includes.