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Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has reconfirmed his ambitions for the city-region’s Clean Air Zone to be non-charging in a letter to Environment Secretary, George Eustice.
Following the postponement of the plan in light of global supply chain disruption hindering access to new compliant vehicles for businesses, Andy Burnham has called on government to accept the city-region’s proposals for an investment-led approach to tackling air pollution from vehicles.
Plans proposed by city-region leaders aim to clean up the city-region’s air using a non-charging approach to avoid undue financial hardship on residents and businesses, instead encouraging cleaner alternatives to those driving on roads covered by the Clean Air Zone. Andy Burnham and Cllr Andrew Western, GMCA portfolio lead for Clean Air, have now written to the Environment Secretary, George Eustice, to set out Greater Manchester’s proposal that will incentivise road users to upgrade vehicles to cleaner alternatives using funding already allocated by government through the previous scheme.
The city-region’s plans put forward the idea that high-polluting vehicles can be upgraded to those with cleaner engines, while mitigating economic risk and financial burden of a daily charge on road users at a time of rising inflation and slow economic growth.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:
“We know the original Clean Air Plan caused serious concern among many residents and businesses earlier this year.
“We listened to what people were telling us and urgently commissioned research into those areas of concern, namely the global vehicle supply chain issues and the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Because of the action Greater Manchester took, we agreed a pause of the scheme with Government. We are now confident from the work we’ve been doing that we can secure the right plan for our residents and businesses, which cleans up our air, but doesn’t result in hardship or a single job being lost. We now need Government to work with us on this to help deliver our vision.
“It is only right that we now provide an update on the progress we have made towards developing a new Clean Air Plan to be agreed with Government.
“That is why I’ve written to the Environment Secretary reiterating our call for an investment-led, non-charging Clean Air Plan and I would urge our colleagues in Government to engage with us on this matter as soon as possible.”
Cllr Andrew Western, GMCA portfolio lead for Clean Air and chair of the Greater Manchester Air Quality Administration Committee, added:
“Air quality is one of our biggest health challenges and we are still completely committed to tackling it. But if we are to succeed in cleaning up Greater Manchester’s air, we must have a plan that is fit for purpose and fair to the people of our city-region.
“We are acutely aware of the devastating ongoing financial impact of the cost-of-living crisis, and that’s why we believe an investment-led non-charging Clean Air Plan is the way forward. But I would like to stress that no decision has yet been taken on a new plan in Greater Manchester and that a new scheme would have to be agreed with Government.
“To that end, we want to build on the constructive talks held with Government in January and progress with a plan that is right for Greater Manchester. Time is of the essence if we are to develop this plan with residents and businesses in our city-region, so we are urging the Environment Secretary and his Government colleagues to engage with use on this matter as soon as possible.”