Greater Manchester to ditch plans for Ulez-style charges

Andy Burnham will ditch Ulez-style charges for Manchester drivers after plans for the clean air zone received a public backlash.

The mayor of Greater Manchester Combined Authority revealed his proposals to improve air quality in the region on Wednesday, which removed charges for certain vehicles in a model akin to Sadiq Khan’s Ulez zone in London.

The plans aim to meet the authority’s legal obligation to reduce nitrogen dioxide in the air to acceptable levels by 2026.

Mr Burnham said that modelling carried out by the authority found that introducing charges for vans, lorries, taxis, buses and other commercial vehicles in central Manchester and Salford would not see the region meet these targets by the 2026 deadline.

Instead, he suggested that investment in cleaner transport, including funding to increase the numbers of electric buses and taxis, would result in the region reducing nitrogen dioxide levels to acceptable levels by 2025.

The decision comes just months after Sadiq Khan expanded the Ulez zone to include the whole of London. This means that drivers of cars that do not meet certain emission standards in all 32 London boroughs must now pay a daily £12.50 charge, or face a fine of up to £180.

Mr Khan’s expansion has faced widespread criticism and backlash, including hundreds of the cameras being used to police the zone vandalised by vigilantes protesting against the decision.

The Greater Manchester mayor had initially planned to bring in a charge in May 2022 that would have seen buses and lorries charged £60 a day to use the region’s roads.

Vans and minibuses would have been charged £10 a day and taxis registered in Greater Manchester £7.50 a day. More than 1,000 signs were installed in preparation for the charging zones. These have since been covered by stickers saying “under review”.

However, this plan was put on hold in February 2022 for two years amid fears that people would not be able to afford it during the cost of living crisis.

In September, Mr Burnham suggested he had canned the idea of a charge, telling GB News that as long as he was mayor there wouldn’t be a congestion charge scheme or a clean air style scheme.

In his announcement on Wednesday, Mr Burnham said: “By accelerating investment in the Bee [Transport] Network to create a London-style integrated public transport network, and upgrading GM-licensed taxis, we can improve air quality faster than if we introduced a clean air zone, and without causing hardship to our residents or businesses.”

As part of the investment plan, Greater Manchester is to submit a £86 million investment plan, which will see it spend £51.2m on 64 new zero-emission buses and £22m on giving grants to taxi drivers to buy lower emissions vehicles.

Hackney Carriage drivers will be able to access £8m to switch to electric vehicles, while £5m will be spent on new measures to manage traffic flows in Salford and Manchester city centres.

The plan will now have to be signed off by the Greater Manchester Air Quality Administration next week, before being submitted to the Government to give the green light.

Mr Burnham said: “I’d also ask government to urgently consider allowing Greater Manchester local authorities to remove charging clean air zone signs, as modelling shows that only Greater Manchester’s investment-led plan can meet the legal test placed on the 10 councils to deliver compliance in the shortest possible time and by 2026 at the latest.”