Greater Manchester could finally receive an answer about congestion zone left ‘in limbo’

Photo: GMCA

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham

Greater Manchester could finally get answers about the region’s clean air zone (CAZ), Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has said. Speaking to the public in the mayor’s hotseat on BBC Radio Manchester yesterday (21 November), he claimed he was awaiting an answer from the government ‘within the month’.

The original plans for the CAZ were scrapped in 2022 after a public backlash because of the daily charge to taxis, vans, lorries and buses which did not meet emission standards. But the mayor last year proposed a new plan to tackle Greater Manchester’s poor air quality, which would involve replacing taxis and buses with cleaner vehicles and no charge to motorists.

But the mayor has been waiting for the go-ahead from the government for almost a year.

“We’re still in limbo, I’m afraid,” he told a caller. “We are waiting to hear from the government whether they will accept our proposal of what we call an ‘investment-led’ approach to the clean air zone, where people get help to change their vehicle.

“I was told a few weeks ago that we might get a decision this month. Maybe I’ll be in the hotseat next week with news.”

He later added that he was ‘hopeful to have news by the end of the year’ but that there was still some uncertainty surrounding the scheme.

“The government could still come out and say they want a charging zone near the M60, in the city centre, I don’t know,” Mr Burnham said. “I would like the signs to come down and I would like the threat of a charging zone to be removed. But we’re not in that position yet.”

Mr Burnham responded to a call-in whose 75 year-old dad, a self-employed decorator, was being ‘financially crippled’ by a payment plan after deciding to swap his van for a newer model that meets emission standards before the CAZ was scrapped.

Asked if the mayor felt the man was being ‘punished’ for trying to ‘do the right thing’, he noted that ‘the punishment would have been worse’ for more people if they’d kept the scheme, and that he hoped the investment-led approach would offer answers.

Charlotte Hall, Local Democracy Reporter