Manchester rejects clean air zone charges

Richard Aucock, Contributor
Wed, 20 Dec 2023

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has given the green light to a clean air zone in the region – but has confirmed it will not be one that charges motorists.

Instead, the plans will involve extra public investment in buses and taxis – which he says will deliver clean air faster than charging drivers to use roads in Greater Manchester.

The move contrasts with Greater London, where an expanded ULEZ (ultra-low emission zone) was expanded this year by London Mayor Sadiq Khan. The original ULEZ was introduced in 2015 by then-Mayor Boris Johnson.

There are also charging clean air zones in Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Tyneside.

However, Burnham paused the introduction of a planned charging clean air zone in Greater Manchester in 2022.

The Guardian reports he called charging zones "not morally defensible" and a "pre-pandemic solution for a post-pandemic world".

Greater Manchester will instead see an increase in the number of electric buses, from 85 to 199. There will also be a £22.5m fund providing grants to taxi drivers.

"By accelerating investment in the Bee Network to create a London-style integrated public transport network, and upgrading GM-licenced taxis, we can improve air quality faster than if we introduced a clean air zone, and without creating hardship to our residents or businesses," says Burnham.

Earlier modelling indicated that by charging, Greater Manchester would not achieve its legally-directed compliance with central government targets to reduce NOx levels by 2026.

Bury Metropolitan Borough Council leader Eamonn O’Brien said there is now a compelling case for what Greater Manchester has set out – a plan that is fairer, cheaper, more affordable and more democratic.

Details of the non-charging plan, which include £51.2m investment in zero-emission buses and grants of up to £12,560 for green taxis, will be discussed this week.

There will be a further £5m spent on traffic flow management on roads in the centre of Manchester and Salford.

Ask HJ

Will my petrol car become non ULEZ compliant in the future?

At present my 2016 petrol Kia Venga is ULEZ friendly, will there come a time when it would become ULEZ unfriendly? Just checking I was not too sure if when vehicles get to a certain age they fall into the charging zone.

At present the emissions standards required for petrol cars within the ULEZ is Euro 4, which came into effect for most cars in 2006. ULEZ compliance is based on NOx emissions rather than vehicle age, so a vehicle will not become non-compliant because of its age. However, the Euro 7 emissions standard comes into effect in July 2025, so it is reasonable to expect that at some point in the future the ULEZ standard for both petrol and diesel cars will be raised above the current levels, but it is difficult to anticipate when this might be. As your Kia was built in 2016 it is likely to be Euro 6 compliant, so even if the standards are raised for petrol cars it is unlikely it will be increased to the point where you car is non-compliant in the near future.

Answered by David Ross

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