- Mayor calls on ministers to support extra funding for cleaner vehicles
- Money would also help to support small businesses, sole traders and taxi drivers
- Funding commitment needed to keep air quality gains and support green recovery
Greater Manchester is calling on Government to support its plans to ‘build back better’ and help to tackle air pollution as the city-region sets out ambitions for a green economic recovery.
The coronavirus pandemic has seen air pollution levels drop by 30%1 and road traffic volumes fall by as much as 52%2 across Greater Manchester as a result of the lockdown – and at the same time cycling journeys have increased by 42%3.
To build on this, and give businesses across the city-region the support they need to prepare for the introduction of a Greater Manchester-wide Clean Air Zone as directed by Government, the Mayor is calling on ministers to financially support the city-region’s plans to rebuild the economy in an environmentally sustainable way.
The financial package would enable Greater Manchester businesses and transport operators to make the shift to cleaner vans, lorries, buses taxis and private hire vehicles.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Our focus has rightly been on reducing as best we can the terrible impacts of coronavirus on our people and our businesses.
“But it’s also right that we now look to the future and how we can make sure that, as we recover, we build back better, but at the same time build back greener.
“We’ve seen tremendous shifts in travel patterns over the last few months, with reduced air pollution levels, more people than ever before cycling and walking, and a significant switch to working from home, and we need to keep these benefits.
“We can’t go back to how we were – no one wants to see the levels of air pollution and congestion we were experiencing. We must seize the opportunities offered by this difficult situation to support our businesses through recovery and into a greener future.
“To achieve that we need dedicated funding from Government to support our businesses as they move to cleaner vehicles, and long-term funding to support the roll out of more cycling and walking measures and to make sure our public transport network is capable of supporting our economy in a much more environmentally friendly way.”
The ask of ministers is made up of:
- £98m for a Clean Commercial Vehicle Fund for vans, HGVs, coaches and minibuses (increased from £59m).
- £16m for a Clean Bus Fund to support retrofit of the existing bus fleet. (Greater Manchester is also working with Government on additional funding for the replacement of vehicles that can’t be retrofitted with new, cleaner vehicles.)
- A £28m Clean Taxi Fund for taxi and private hire drivers and operators to switch to cleaner vehicles.
- A new £10m hardship fund – dedicated to small businesses and sole traders who could face additional financial concerns to help them switch to compliant vehicles.
- Funding for 350 new electric vehicle charging points, doubling the size of the existing Greater Manchester publicly owned charging network, and for up to 600 electric buses by the mid-2020s. (This investment would come from sources other than Government Clean Air Plan core funding.)
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