Clean Air Plan FAQs

Greater Manchester is working to clean up air pollution on local roads. 

The government has directed the 10 Greater Manchester local authorities to achieve compliance with legal limits for nitrogen dioxide as soon as possible and by 2026 at the latest. 

Greater Manchester’s proposed investment-led Clean Air Plan does NOT include a charging Clean Air Zone. 

To find out more about our Clean Air Plan and the next steps, please visit the Clean Air Plan page.  

You can also read the frequently asked questions below for more information.  

The investment-led Clean Air Plan 

Like many areas across the country, Greater Manchester has high levels of air pollution on some local roads.  

Greater Manchester is under direction from government to meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide on local roads in the shortest possible time and by 2026 at the latest.  

Poor air quality affects everyone’s health. It’s linked to conditions like asthma, heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and early deaths. 

We’re working to make Greater Manchester a cleaner and healthier place to live in, work in and visit. 

Greater Manchester’s revised investment-led Clean Air Plan would see £86.7m invested in cleaner buses, taxis and measures to manage traffic flows on some roads in Manchester and Salford. It would use funding already awarded to Greater Manchester by government.  

The evidence predicts that we could meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide by 2026 through:   

  • £51.1m investment in 40 new zero-emission electric buses, EV charging infrastructure at bus depots, and upgrading 77 buses to be Euro VI (clean air compliant).  Local control of bus services through the Bee Network allows us to run zero-emission electric and clean air compliant buses in areas where nitrogen dioxide exceeds.  

  • £30.5m Clean Taxi Fund: To provide financial support to help every eligible hackney carriage and private hire vehicle licensed with a Greater Manchester authority by 1 October 2024 to upgrade to a cleaner vehicle and meet a new minimum emission standard by 31 December 2025. Funding would also be available to help owners of GM-licensed hackneys who meet the minimum emission standard upgrade to a zero emission capable vehicle.  

  • £5m investment in local traffic measures: To manage traffic flow on roads in Manchester and Salford. This will bring nitrogen dioxide within legal limits on Regent Road and Quay Street.     

You can read more about it on our Clean Air Plan page. 

Since we submitted our investment-led plan to government in December 2023, we’ve needed to update it.  

The revised plan takes into account a delay to a new all-electric depot at Stockport; and the electrification of Queens Road depot, which is now expected to be completed by the end of 2025. 

The revised plan also includes updates to air quality modelling – the process of forecasting, understanding and managing future levels of air pollution. This includes the latest information on where Bee Network buses are running in the city region, and a correction to modelled emissions of government-funded retrofitted buses. 

As a result we’ve made some changes to our bus investment proposal, but our taxi proposals remain the same. There’s also more detail about local measures to manage traffic flows in Manchester and Salford.

The updated plan would still meet the government’s deadline for meeting legal limits for nitrogen dioxide on local roads. 

It is for government to decide the measures that are included in the final Clean Air Plan.  

Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Plan proposals do NOT  include a charging Clean Air Zone.   

We’ve compared our investment-led proposals against a ‘benchmark’ Clean Air Zone in the regional centre (the centre of Manchester and bordering areas of Salford). Our work shows that:  

  • Only the investment-led, non-charging plan would meet the government direction to meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide by 2026.  

  • The alternative ‘benchmark’ charging Clean Air Zone (in the centre of Manchester and bordering parts of Salford) would not meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide in 2026, failing to meet the government’s compliance date of 2026. 

If government approves the investment-led Clean Air Plan, there would be no charge for any vehicles to drive anywhere in Greater Manchester. 

You might have seen signs for a Clean Air Zone on our roads which say ‘under review’.  

That’s because the first Clean Air Plan included plans for a Greater Manchester-wide category C charging Clean Air Zone that did not go ahead.   

Greater Manchester has asked government if we can remove this signage but we cannot do so without their approval. 

The pandemic resulted in significant vehicle supply chain issues, rising vehicle prices, and a cost-of-living crisis. The original Clean Air Plan was no longer the right solution.    

It would have imposed daily driving charges for some vehicles which owners may not have been able to upgrade. This could have risked significant financial hardship for local people, and threatened businesses and jobs.  

At the same time, it would not have met the government’s legal direction (issued before the pandemic) to tackle harmful nitrogen dioxide on local roads by 2024. The government withdrew its legal direction requiring the Greater Manchester local authorities to implement a charging category C Clean Air Zone.  

Greater Manchester is now under legal direction to meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide on local roads “in the shortest possible time” and by 2026 at the latest. 

Proposed Clean Air Plan vehicle upgrade funding  

Under our investment-led Clean Air Plan, only GM-licensed hackney carriages and private hire vehicles (PHVs) would be eligible for clean vehicle grants.   

Our modelling shows that targeted investment in zero-emission and electric and clean air compliant buses, taxis and private hires is the most effective way to achieve compliance with legal limits for nitrogen dioxide under an investment-led Clean Air Plan.    

Funding is now closed to upgrade Heavy Goods Vehicles and existing applicants that have a funding award will have until 1 January 2025 to spend it. 

Greater Manchester’s revised investment-led Clean Air Plan proposes a £30.5m Clean Taxi Fund. It would use funding already awarded to Greater Manchester by government: 

  • £22.5m Clean Taxi Fund: Providing grants of between £3,770 and £12,560 to help all eligible taxis (hackney carriages and private hire vehicles) licensed with a Greater Manchester local authority by 1 October 2024 meet a new minimum emission standard by 31 December 2025. 

  • £8m Electric Hackney Upgrade Fund: Providing grants of between £7,530 and £12,560 to help owners of GM-licensed hackney carriages which meet the minimum emission standard upgrade to a zero emission capable vehicle. 

The Clean Taxi Fund needs to be approved by government. No dates for the funds opening is available yet.

Please read on, sign up for updates on future funding, or contact your local licensing authority for further information.  

If the government approves the revised investment led Clean Air Plan proposals, grants of between £3,770 and £12,560 would be available to support upgrades to eligible hackney cab and private hire vehicle licensed with a Greater Manchester authority by 1 October 2024.  

The grant amounts have been aligned with those offered under the 2021 GM Clean Air Plan Policy, with 25.6%, uplift reflecting inflation and changes in prices since funding amounts were originally developed.  

We have also proposed an £8m fund for electric hackney upgrades. If approved by government this would mean grants of between £7,530 and £12,560 to support owners of GM-licensed hackney carriages who meet the minimum emission standard upgrade to a zero-emission capable vehicle.  It is proposed that the following grants are made available: 

  • Upgrade to compliant wheelchair accessible vehicle (Euro 4 Petrol or Euro 6 Diesel): £6,280 

  • Upgrade to new zero emission capable wheelchair accessible vehicle: £12,560 

  • Upgrade to used zero emission capable wheelchair accessible vehicle: £12,560 

  • Compliant non-wheelchair accessible vehicle (Euro 4 Petrol or Euro 6 Diesel): £3,770 

  • New zero emission capable non-wheelchair accessible vehicle: £7,530 

  • Used zero emission capable non-wheelchair accessible vehicle: £7,530 

  • Non-wheelchair accessible vehicle, 6+ seat (Euro 4 Petrol or Euro 6 Diesel): £6,280 

A Clean Taxi Fund would need to be approved by government. No date for the funds opening is available yet.  As the proposal is subject to government feedback and approval, there is no guarantee that the Clean Taxi Fund will open.  

Please sign up for updates on future funding. 

The proposed Clean Taxi Fund has not been approved by government and is not open. We are not proposing retrospective applications.

 Anyone upgrading their vehicle in advance of feedback from the government should assume that applications to the fund will NOT be accepted retrospectively. 

Please sign up for updates on future funding. 

If the government approves our current proposals, eligibility includes being the owner of a hackney cab and private hire vehicle licensed with a Greater Manchester authority as at 1 October 2024.   

Upgrades would need to meet a new minimum emission standard being introduced by Greater Manchester local authorities by 31 December 2025 (date to be reviewed if government does not agree to the Clean Taxi Fund).   

Hackney carriages and private hire vehicles with an internal combustion engine would need to be either Euro 4 petrol or Euro 6 diesel, or be a fully Zero Emissions Capable electric vehicle.  

Grants would be issued directly to applicants who can prove they meet the relevant criteria, rather than through dealerships. This would give more flexibility over selling and buying a new vehicle.   

A Clean Taxi Fund would need to be approved by government. No date for the funds opening is available yet.  

Please sign up for updates on future funding. 

No date can be confirmed yet. This is because government would need to agree to GM’s proposals for an investment-led Clean Air Plan for the Clean Taxi Fund to go ahead.   

Depending on the feedback we get from government, we may need to make final changes before launching the fund.  

Please sign up for updates on future funding. 

The total funding requirement of £30.5m is based on the total eligible vehicle population - so we are confident that it will cover all valid applications from owners of non-compliant vehicles.

The proposal is to fund EVERY eligible vehicle as at 1 October 2024, and the funding assumes every eligible taxi owner will take up the grant.

A Clean Taxi Fund would need to be approved by government. No date for the fund opening is available yet.

Please sign up for updates on future funding. 

How does air pollution affect us and how is Greater Manchester already cleaning up our air?  

Poor air quality is the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK. Air pollution harms our health at every stage of life. The effects can start as early a baby’s first few weeks in the womb. The most vulnerable people in society are hit hardest – children, older people and those already in poor health. Read more about the health impacts of air pollution.  

Public Health England calculated that poor air quality contributed to the equivalent of 1,200 early deaths per year in Greater Manchester in 2016.*  

In 2019, Public Health England published a report stating that at a UK level, the equivalent of between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year were attributable to long-term exposure to air pollution. Based on the size of the Greater Manchester population, this could equate to between 1,300 and 1,700 deaths per year in region.     

* Through its Public Health Outcomes Framework, which gave a spatial breakdown of deaths attributable to air pollution.  

The latest air quality monitoring data for 2023 shows that air pollution had fallen compared to 2022 and is significantly lower than levels recorded pre-pandemic in 2019.  

Five years ago, air quality monitoring data showed 129 locations of nitrogen dioxide exceedance. This has now fallen to 64 sites across the city region.  

This gradual improvement in air quality is in part driven by investment in the Bee Network, as well as people upgrading to cleaner vehicles, and through existing Clean Air Plan investments in cleaner vehicles

You can see all Greater Manchester’s air quality monitoring data on the Clean Air GM Data Hub. 

Greater Manchester is rolling out the Bee Network: a joined up travel network with low fares, safe and reliable services, state of the art electric buses, and a growing active travel (cycling and walking) network, set to be the largest in the country. 

It’s already transforming the way people travel, with more and more people getting on board and travelling sustainably. 

Bringing buses back under local control through the Bee Network allows Greater Manchester to run clean and zero-emission buses on routes where they are most needed to improve air quality.   

Before bus services were franchised as part of the Bee Network, less than 1% of buses were electric. That has risen to more than 10% in areas where buses are under local control – and will rise to more than 15% when all buses are part of the Bee Network in January 2025.

It means that Greater Manchester is on target for a third of its bus fleet to be electric by 2027 and is working towards an ambition to have an all-electric bus fleet by 2030.  

Shaping the new Clean Air Plan with local residents and businesses  

Greater Manchester leaders are committed to tackling the health impacts of air pollution as a priority.   

We want to clean up our air and protect people’s health in a way that is fair to businesses and residents affected by financial hardship, while meeting the new government legal direction to meet nitrogen dioxide legal limits by 2026. In the current economic environment, with increasing information about the harm air pollution causes, achieving this is a delicate balance.   

Greater Manchester believes that an investment-led Clean Air Plan, rather than a charging Clean Air Zone, is the fairest approach for our businesses and residents. Investment through the Clean Air Plan and in sustainable transport as part of the Bee Network has already delivered significant improvements in air quality.   

Work to develop the investment-led Clean Air Plan has included targeted engagement and research with key impacted groups. This included working with vehicle-owning groups (like the taxi trade) and representatives of other impacted individuals, such as community and equality-based groups.  

We will continue to work with these groups to ensure we develop a plan that works for Greater Manchester and makes the best use of the government funding available. 

Throughout the process to develop its Clean Air Plan, Greater Manchester has fully consulted on the proposals in line with legal requirements and local authority guiding principles.

The next steps for the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan are dependent on feedback from the government.

The nature and timescales of any further consultation on the Clean Air Plan proposals will be confirmed once we have received full, formal government feedback.

Infrastructure, procurement, signage and costs  

The development of the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan is funded by the Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU), the joint Defra (Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs) and DfT (Department for Transport) unit established to deliver national plans to improve air quality and meet legal limits. The costs related to the Plan’s implementation and operation are directly funded or underwritten by JAQU.  

All reasonable costs associated with the development of the new plan, including the essential requirement to update existing signage, will continue to be funded by government.  

Following competitive tenders run by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) on behalf of the 10 local authorities, the following companies were appointed to deliver work for the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone:  

  • Egis: Responsible for the installation and maintenance of around 900 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, and a Clean Air Zone office to handle payments, discounts, exemptions and financial reconciliation along with any penalty charge notices (PCNs) that are issued to non-payers of the charge.  

  • McCann & Company Limited: Five-and-a-half-year contract to design, manufacture, install, maintain and decommission more than 2,200 signs to support the Clean Air Zone.  

  • Legal Services Alliance: A collaboration of Squire Patton Boggs and BDP Pitmans advising TfGM on the project.   

TfGM, acting on behalf of the ten Greater Manchester local authorities, contracted with McCann & Co Ltd for the installation, maintenance and decommissioning of around 2,200 signs needed across 18 local authorities for a Greater Manchester wide Clean Air Zone. These included the ten Greater Manchester local authorities and the eight neighbouring authorities of Calderdale, Kirklees, Derbyshire, Cheshire East, Warrington, St Helens, Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen. The value of the contract is £3.04m. Expenditure to the end of November 2023 on this contract was £2,160,089.   

In February 2022, after the review of the Clean Air Plan was announced, signage installation on the local road network was paused and a sticker to cover the planned opening date on installed signs was required. A further order was awarded to McCann for £120,000 for 1,309 ‘Under review’ stickers and to apply them. McCann was responsible for applying the stickers to the signs in the following local authorities: Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Calderdale, Kirklees, Derbyshire, Cheshire East, Warrington, St Helens, Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen. The following local authorities applied the stickers to the signs in their own areas at a total cost of £69,300: Bolton (£11,500), Bury (£6,900), Salford (£14,200), Stockport (£17,000), Tameside (£3,500), Trafford (£9,300) and Wigan (£6,900).   

The cost of the signage, including any need to update it, is funded or underwritten by JAQU.    

National Highways is responsible for the work carried out on signage on the Strategic Road Network, which includes motorways. We don’t have details of the costs for this work. 

The automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras installed for the formerly planned Clean Air Zone have been used to support the development of the investment-led, non-charging GM Clean Air Plan – by helping GM better understand: 

  • The current vehicle fleet on the city-region’s roads and their emissions. 

  • Where the city-region would get the greatest emissions reductions by tackling polluting vehicles travelling regularly through GM’s most nitrogen dioxide polluted places.  

Once GM’s local authorities meet their air quality legal limits, the ANPR cameras will no longer be needed for Clean Air Plan purposes.  

Through formal requests, Greater Manchester Police can currently ask for ANPR data to help them gather evidence for criminal investigations. GM wants to work with government to consider whether they could be used for potential law enforcement activity related to the detection of crime. There would be a public consultation on any such measures.  

TfGM, acting on behalf of the ten Greater Manchester local authorities, contracted with Egis Projects SA to deliver the Clean Air Zone service contract required for a Greater Manchester-wide category C charging Zone. This included the installation and maintenance of ANPR cameras, a public-facing Clean Air Zone office to handle payments, discounts, exemptions and financial reconciliation along with any Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs). Expenditure to the end of November 2023 on the contract, including ANPR cameras, was £21.6m. In addition, the operational expenditure for the Clean Air Zone up to the end of November 2023 was £11m.  

All reasonable costs associated with the Clean Air Zone, including the installation of ANPR cameras, continue to be funded or underwritten by government.