Clearing the air in Greater Manchester: we can’t delay the Clean Air Zone
Greater Manchester is one of the most polluted regions in the UK. Air pollution across the region accounts for at least 1,200 premature deaths every year. It also has some of the worst rates of lung disease and childhood asthma hospital admission in the country. Over the past few weeks, the plans for a Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone (CAZ) have been delayed.
Our Policy & Public Affairs Officer, Rob Day, tells us what happened, setting out why this delay is devastating for both residents across Greater Manchester and the wider clean air movement – and what needs to happen to protect everyone in the region with a lung condition.
The issue with air pollution
All ten local authorities that make up the Greater Manchester City Region have annual rates of toxic air well above legal limits. This means that the air in every single neighbourhood across Greater Manchester is incredibly dangerous to breathe.
On top of this, there are almost 300,000 residents across Greater Manchester living with asthma and COPD. Air pollution puts these people at risk of seeing their condition worsen, triggering life-threatening asthma attacks and COPD flare-ups and can increase hospitalisations.
The toxic air across the region is likely to be having a negative impact on the health of other vulnerable residents too – those who are already ill, older residents, pregnant women and young children whose lungs are still developing.
More about the Clean air zone
The government issued a legal directive in March 2020, requiring the ten local authorities across Greater Manchester – including Manchester City, Trafford, Wigan, Salford, Tameside and Bolton – to deliver a Clean Air Zone and reduce deadly air pollution to legal limits by 2024 at the latest.
The CAZ that the councils across Greater Manchester proposed only affected the most polluting commercial vehicles like HGVs, buses, coaches, minibuses, vans, taxis and private hire vehicles. Under the initial proposals, these vehicles would have to pay to drive through the zone. The CAZ would not apply to private cars, or any vehicles that meet the necessary standards.
This was not a congestion charge, but an initiative to improve air quality and health by restricting the most polluting vehicles from the roads.
This was agreed in June 2021, and the first phase was supposed to come into force in May this year, meaning non-compliant HGVs, buses and coaches would have to pay a charge if driving through the zone. The second phase was due to come into force in January next year, meaning high-polluting LGVs, taxis and private hire vehicles and some coaches would pay the charge in the zone from January.
The government and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority agreed to provide financial support to businesses that would otherwise struggle to upgrade their vehicles to the tune of £120 million.
What’s the problem now?
Since the start of this year, increasing concerns from local businesses including taxi companies predominantly, have been raised locally about the financial burden the CAZ could have on small businesses during a time when the cost of living is rising. At the same time, it appears there have been increasing supply chain issues, making it difficult for some business owners to make sure they’re using CAZ-compliant vehicles.
In January, the ten council leaders led by the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, requested a delay to the second phase of the CAZ roll-out that would apply to high-polluting LGVs, taxis and private hire vehicles and some coaches However, as the cost of living and supply chain crises worsened, leaders across Greater Manchester felt it was no longer feasible that they would be able to bring the Zone in as planned and that they would not be able to achieve the emissions targets by 2024.
As a result, on Friday 4 February, the government agreed to delay the Clean Air Zone until July 2022, to allow time for alternatives to a charging CAZ to be developed, and pushed the date for which Greater Manchester must comply with UK legal air pollution limits back from 2024 to 2026.
A step backwards for clean air
This decision is deeply disappointing. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen air pollution turned into a political football between national and regional government. Delays to action to tackle toxic air puts lives at risk.
It will now be at least two years longer before people across Greater Manchester can breathe cleaner air, meaning that people will continue to develop lung conditions and die from health issues relating to air pollution.
With Clean Air Zones planned to be rolled out in Bradford, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield, we hope that the activity in Greater Manchester does not set a precedent when it comes to tackling air pollution in other towns and cities.
Clean Air Zones are one of the few tried and tested policy measures for delivering cleaner air in the shortest possible time. We need to see them rolled out wherever air pollution is above legal limits, alongside measures to improve public transport and inclusive walking and cycling infrastructure, and financial support including scrappage schemes, to help people to move away from polluting cars.
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