Taxis staging protest over Manchester's Clean Air Zone
Manchester Combined Authority referred the decision back to the government last month
Last updated 3rd Feb 2022
Hundreds of taxi drivers are making their way into the centre of Manchester this morning in protest against Greater Manchester's Clean Air Zone.
They've started at the Etihad Stadium and will make their way into the centre of Manchester this afternoon.
It's as Andy Burnham's asked the government to delay the scheme by five years.
Plans for the scheme propose than from the end of May the most polluting vehicles within Greater Manchester's 10 boroughs will face a daily charge - an area of approximately 493 square miles.
William Sewell, from Panntrans, a Wigan Haulage company, he says the zone would set them back tens of thousands of pounds
"It's about everybody. The shopkeepers getting their deliveries in, builders and builders merchants. It's right across the board. It's cyclists that don't even get in a car, if they're getting jobs done on their house or if they're getting a taxi, then it's going to effect them. It's going to effect everybody".
Plans referred back to the government
The Mayor of Greater Manchester says that the future of the Clean Air Zone is now in the government's hands as councils in Manchester have done all they can.
Mayor Burnham said: "We were the ones that blew the whistle on 2024, we provided the evidence to the government and they haven't done anything. It's kind of frustrating the way the government have played the politics on this.
"Our evidence says compliance isn't possible by 2024. I think they should leave the politics to one side, and get on with doing the right thing. We're fighting back against it. We're not having it. We've tried to work in good faith, and we've done what we believe to be the right thing to do, but we're calling out pretty unscrupulous politics from the Conservative party on this."
Greater Manchester asked the Government to pause the next phase of the financial support scheme which was due to open at the end of last month.
Funding to upgrade taxis, vans, coaches and minibuses to cleaner models is set to be paused to allow for a ‘fundamental review’ of the Clean Air Zone.
It came amid evidence of supply chain issues in the light goods vehicles market, increasing the price of second hand vans by up to 60 pc since 2020.
"The current Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone was designed before the pandemic"
The Mayor of Greater Manchester has set out four changes he would like the government to make to the current CAZ plans:
- That the CAZ continues to begin from 30th May 2022, but as a non-charging CAZ for category B vehicles (including buses, HGVs and non-GM registered taxis), as this would allow people to adjust to the changes.
- That all private-use leisure vehicles - such as motorhomes, camper-vans and horseboxes, as well as cars, motorbikes and mopeds - are permanently exempted from the CAZ.
- No longer be a category C zone (which includes vans and GM-registered taxis).
- That it is a temporary CAZ that will last no longer than needed to achieve air compliance.
Mr Burnham has called for a the CAZ to be delayed till 2027, but has also offered the government scenarios of what would be required for it be delayed till 2026 or even 2025.
In a statement, Andy Burnham said: "High levels of air pollution from road traffic have a major impact on people’s health across Greater Manchester and lead to over 1200 premature deaths every year.
"We are committed to cleaning up the air our residents breathe – but in a way that helps people to make the change and does not put jobs, livelihoods and businesses at risk.
"The current Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone (CAZ) was designed before the pandemic.
"We have repeatedly raised concerns over a number of years about the level of funding being offered by the Government to help people upgrade vehicles. These concerns intensified last year when the effects of the pandemic became clear.
"The more time the Government is prepared to allow, the greater the level of protection that can be provided to jobs and businesses in Greater Manchester and the less punitive the measures will need to be.
"It is now for the Government to decide whether they are prepared to set a new date for compliance and what that date should be."
Could cost some up to "over £3000 a year"
Backlash from the public has resulted in a petition that has been signed tens of thousands of people opposing the CAZ scheme.
As of today (3rd February), over 49,000 people have signed the petition that was started by Paul Delve.
Danny Danson, a handyman from Stockport, worries about how small businesses like his will be hit.
"Financially it's going to cost me over £3000 a year", said Danny.
"As a handyman I have to go out to jobs and price the jobs up to see if I can do it and how much it's going to cost them. I can't go around charging £10 to the first customer just to go an visit, just for leaving the house.
"I'm sure the big firms are going to take a big hit as well, but the little firms are one man bands. They struggle to keep a van, get it MOT'd and keep it serviced and up to date. It's a massive cost. So, to the small companies, like myself, we will take a big hit on this."
"We are still legally directed to achieve compliance in the shortest time possible and not later than 2024"
Trafford council leader Andrew Western, who is the Clean Air lead in Greater Manchester, has already written to the government to give them a ‘heads up’.
He said: “We are still legally directed to achieve compliance in the shortest time possible and not later than 2024 and we have a moral obligation to do so too.
“But there is undoubtedly a real concern coming through from the evidence that we’ve seen and also anecdotally from smaller businesses in the conurbation that they do want to upgrade, but they’re struggling to, in some cases, replace.
“With those changes to second hand prices and the potential ramifications of that being several thousand pounds potentially increasing the costs of second hand complaint vehicles, there’s much for us to do and obviously not all of that is within our jurisdiction as Greater Manchester.
“These are national and global supply chain issues and they require a national solution.”
What are the plans for the Clean Air Zone?
The CAZ would spread across Greater Manchester's 10 boroughs, including Wigan, and charge the most polluting vehicles a daily fee.
Cameras will be installed across the roads within Manchester, to enforce a non-payment of the CAZ charge.
In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the UK government had broken the law by failing to protect people from polluted air and that urgent action needed to be taken, with Manchester being one of 16 regions and cities within the UK that suffer from illegal levels of NO2, nitrogen dioxide .
As a result, all 10 Greater Manchester councils have been directed by law to reduce air pollution by 2024.
Air pollution within the city is said to contribute towards at least 1,200 deaths per year.
So far, more than £120m of Government funding has been put in place to help eligible drivers upgrade their vehicles and avoid the daily charge.
The Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone due to launch 30 May 2022.
What are the CAZ charges?
The proposed daily charges for the CAZ are:
- Buses and heavy good vehicles (HGV) - £60 (from 30 May 2022)
- Coaches – £60 (temporary exemption until 1 June 2023)
- Taxis and private hire vehicles – £7.50 (from 30 May 2022)
- Private Motorhomes/Campervans in the main will also be included but the daily charge and date of introduction will depend on the tax class of the vehicle