Caption: Clean Air Zone Sign
“These latest developments reported by media on Friday are unwelcome, particularly in the current economic climate. Business based in city centre Manchester and the Regent Road area of Salford, or those who travel to those areas in non-compliant commercial vehicles, will be alarmed, but our advice is not jump the gun just yet.
“Pollution figures show NOx levels have been plummeting since record keeping began in GM, and the exponential decrease particularly of diesel emissions is only going one way, and picking up speed with each passing year.
“This is due to diesel fleet vehicles being modernised and replaced with much cleaner models, while the number of diesel vehicles privately owned has tanked since the VW diesel-gate scandal. We are also seeing the number of electric vehicles growing faster than anticipated, so this is all good news for diminishing pollution levels. We are still heading in the right direction without the need for any form of charging.
Caption: Clean Air Zone Inner Ring
“GM has also purchased a 100 strong fleet of fully electric buses and we know much of the NOx pollution was coming from very old buses. GM’s non-charging CAZ plan announced last July was very much based around these new, replacement green buses being operated on routes in GM where pollution levels were occasionally in exceedance – typically through the city centre.
“I am confident – as are the authorities here in GM – these new electric buses will get us over the line in terms of legal NOx limits by the 2026 deadline imposed by Defra. If the modelling is correct, Government should have no reason to ask for a charging CAZ anywhere in GM. To demand such a scheme in the face of robust evidence showing pollution levels were not being breached would make no sense. If this were to happen FSB would object in the strongest possible terms.”
