Manchester City Council has finished reviewing its Clean Air Zone plans – and it’s good news for drivers. Greater Manchester won’t follow London’s ULEZ model, meaning drivers of older petrol and diesel cars won’t be charged each day they enter the city.
Instead, Manchester has taken responsibility for its municipal emissions and secured funding from the government to clean up its bus and taxi fleets.
Westminster has thrown £86 million at Manchester in total, £51 million of which will be used to buy 40 new electric busses and their necessary charging infrastructure. Plus, the city will also gain 77 busses that meet the latest Euro 6 emissions standard.
In addition, the package includes £8 million of funding to help move Greater Manchester’s private taxi drivers out of older combustion-engine vehicles and into ‘cleaner vehicles.’
The specifics of the scheme are yet to be finalised but, when the proposal was last updated in 2024, Greater Manchester floated two ideas. The first was a running cost grant for a new zero-emission capable vehicle; the other was a lump-sum grant for a replacement vehicle.
The final piece of funding Greater Manchester residents will notice is the £5 million that’s been allocated to restructuring the area’s road network. Manchester City Council has plans to introduce more traffic calming measures, which it says will improve local air quality in both Manchester and Salford.
The remaining £22 million will be spent on ‘administration, delivery, monitoring and other associated costs.’ Some of that will be spent by local leaders on cancelling contracts with ANPR camera providers and signage manufacturing.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: ‘We are grateful to this Government for listening to Greater Manchester and for this vote of confidence in our investment-led approach to cleaning up our air. This is the right decision for Greater Manchester and it gives people here the certainty they have long needed.’
How has Manchester avoided an Ultra Low Emission Zone?
Through science. We’ll elaborate. The UK has a legal obligation to reduce its nitrogen dioxide emissions to an annual average of no more than 40 micrograms per cubic metre.
Greater Manchester has already conducted a detailed study on its air quality, in which it compared the emissions of its own public transport fleet against those of its residents – and it concluded that it could meet that 40-microgram target faster by modernising its public transport rather than penalising its citizens.
The study showed that, in 2020, just 19% of Manchester’s bus fleet, 29% of its private hire vehicles and 10% of its Hackney Carriages were compliant with the latest emissions regulations.
But, because these vehicles spend far more time on the road than private cars, they were responsible for more emissions overall. So, Manchester targeted them for its Clean Air Plan and the Department for Transport agreed with the reasoning and campaigned for the funds.
What this means for you
If you live in Greater Manchester, this decision means you won’t need to pay a ULEZ charge to enter the city. However, you might notice some changes to your local road network as Manchester’s legislators try to divert you around the most heavily polluted areas.
It’s mixed news for taxi drivers as, in its original plan, Manchester City Council flirted with the idea of charging you £7.50 per day for the right to work in within the city limits. So, the good news is you won’t be running your first fare of the day for free.
The bad news is that you might need to change your car to stay in business. But there’s a finance package on the way from the council to help you do that – so watch this space.
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Luke Wilkinson is Deputy Editor of Parkers. He has five years of experience as a car journalist, and spends his time writing news, reviews, features and advice pieces for both Parkers and its sister site CAR magazine.
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