On 23 January, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced that it would accept Greater Manchester’s proposals to invest in cleaner public transport – rather than to impose a clean air zone (CAZ) for the region. The £86m that would have been spent on establishing the CAZ will now go towards zero-emission buses and Clean Taxi Fund grants.
The air quality minister Emma Hardy said in a statement: “Local authorities know their communities well and so they need to develop plans that are most effective for their local area, and I am pleased that Greater Manchester has found a clear way to reduce emissions without the need to charge motorists.”
The CAZ would have introduced a range of charges for vehicles that did not meet the clean air standards: £60 a day for HGVs, buses and coaches, £10 for vans and £7.50 for taxi and private hire vehicles. Private cars motorbikes and mopeds were not to be included in the plan.
Now the funding from central Government will be spent on cleaner public transport and some traffic calming measures on certain streets: £51.1m will do investment in Greater Manchester’s Bee Network which will include 40 zero emission buses, 77 Euro VI standard buses and charging infrastructure; £8m towards cleaning up its taxi fleet; £35m for traffic management measures: £21.9m for administration such as delivery and monitoring.
The Government published a plan for tackling reducing roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations back in 2017, setting targets for areas that needed to take action. Seven local authorities have already implemented a CAZ – Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Bradford, Tyneside, Portsmouth and Sheffield – along with Transport for London which operates its ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ).
Greater Manchester, which is made up of 10 local authorities, has carried out modelling which shows that its investment-led approach will deliver cleaner air more quickly than the CAZ would have done. The additional benefit of moving the bus network away from fossil fuels more quickly is that this will help with the region’s decarbonisation goals.
As of 6 January 2025, Greater Manchester transitioned all its buses back to public control, a move which began back in 2023. The idea is that by bringing transport networks under public control, it will be possible to provide better integration between different modes of transport, encouraging more people in the region to change the way that they travel – and further cut carbon.
In achieving cleaner air for cities and communities, it is important that construction and highways maintenance works – as well as transport - switch to cleaner fuels and technologies too. Air pollution from such activities can lead to peaks in air pollution, which can be a particular problem in zones where levels of pollution are already high.
In developing the Thermal Road Repairs system for low carbon road repairs – which cuts carbon emissions associated with pothole repairs by 85% compared to traditional methods - we looked at ways that we could switch away from fossil fuels. So, the heaters that we use for our repairs run on biofuel and can be topped up by solar power. And by using electric rollers rather than diesel ones, noise pollution – as well as air pollution – is greatly reduced.
Thermal Road Repairs is proud to be playing its small part in improving air quality and cutting carbon emissions in Greater Manchester. We are using our low carbon system to deliver reactive and planned repairs to roads, footpaths and cycleways as part of a maintenance framework for Manchester City Council.
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Thermal Road Repairs: Decarbonising the asphalt repair industry.
High output. Low emission. Zero waste. Permanent solution.
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