GREEN MEANS GO
MANCHESTER CLEAN AIR PLAN GETS GOVERNMENT BACKING – BUT FUNDING LET DOWN FOR OUR TRADE
Upgrading Greater Manchester’s taxi fleet F“Greater Manchester had originally proposed a £30.5m Clean Taxi
und. However, government has allocated £8m.
We now need to consider how the allocated taxi funding will be best used to support vehicle upgrades to a cleaner taxi fleet. Greater Manchester’s Air Quality Administration Committee will consider proposals at a future meeting. We will keep the trade updated throughout the ten Greater Manchester licensing authorities. No date for when taxi funds will open is available yet. Please check back for more information, sign up below for updates on future funding or contact your local licensing authority for further information.
”
[Taken from the Clean Air Greater Manchester website:
https://cleanairgm.com/clean-air-plan/]
No Clean Air Zone charges will be introduced in Greater Manchester, the government confirmed on 23 January, ending a three-year saga. Defra and the Department for Transport have rigorously assessed an investment-led plan proposed by local councils and concluded it will meet legal obligations to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution. Plans to charge buses and HGVs £60; vans and minibuses £10; and hackney carriages and private hire vehicles £7.50 per day were put on hold after a huge public backlash at the start of 2022. It came after more than 1,000 signs and 400 enforcement cameras were installed, costing taxpayers millions of pounds. It was set to come into effect in May 2022. But Andy Burnham argued that the plans to cut pollution, which were made before the pandemic, would no longer work due to rising costs prohibiting drivers from
30
upgrading their vehicles and the government agreed to delay the deadline. Local leaders then put forward alternatives to improve air quality without charging motorists. However, they had to prove that their ‘investment-led’ plan would cut air pollution in the shortest possible time, no later than 2026. However, clean air campaigners have argued that these alternative plans do not go far enough. It comes after Greater Manchester’s own data revealed last year that pollution was still too high in 64 places across the city-region with NO2 levels rising in some areas. The £86m package of funding for the investment-led scheme that has now been agreed with the government includes: l £51.1m towards bus investment, including 40 zero emission buses, 77 Euro VI standard buses and charging infrastructure
l £5m for local traffic manage- ment measures
l £8m to support moving Greater Manchester’s hackney carriages to cleaner vehicles
l Up to £21.9m for administration, delivery, monitoring and other associated costs
Local leaders have also been told that they can review and cancel contracts relating to the Clean Air Zone, such as signs and cameras. Mr Burnham said: “We will now continue to work towards an all- electric bus fleet whilst investing in local traffic measures and supporting our GM-licensed taxi drivers to upgrade to cleaner vehicles.” David Lawrie, Director of NPHTA said: “The long-awaited funding announcement from the government has finally arrived. “To be clear the hackney and private hire trade in Greater Manchester agreed to drop the three months’ compliance dead- line from April to Jan 2026 on the condition that the funding came. “However, we are very disappointed that the funding amount has been reduced from £30 million to upgrade hackney and PHVs
across Greater
Manchester down to just £8 million and ONLY for hackney carriages as stated by
Andy
Burnham when he spoke on the radio on the day of the announcement. Click link to listen:
https://www.facebook.com/share/ v/19szTYx7NL/ “It appears the private hire sector has been cut out from any offer of funding if what we are hearing and reading is correct!!”
FEBRUARY 2025 PHTM
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