What was the original plan for the Manchester Clean Air Zone?<\/h2>\n
The original plan was for a Category-C Clean Air Zone, which would have seen some high-emissions vehicles face daily charges. Commercial and municipal vehicles – but not private cars – could have been charged \u00a37.50 to \u00a360 per day under the previous plans. That Category C zone was originally slated to officially launch at the end of May 2022.<\/p>\n
However, as you may have spotted, quite a lot of stuff happened to occupy everyone\u2019s time immediately after March 2020. Fast forward to this year, and the economic impact of Covid-19 and the relative cost of electric cars are just a few of the major obstacles still facing so many drivers and companies who\u2019d be affected by the scheme, such as taxi drivers and haulage firms.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, the government judged that the CAZ would be unlikely to meet its legal limits by the original deadline of 2024. So for now, they\u2019ve simply put the scheme on hold. That was back in February 2022. The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, petitioned to drop all charges completely, but government officials resisted, saying they wanted charges to stay in the city centre.<\/p>\n
![\"clean](\"https:\/\/www.scrapcarnetwork.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/clean-air-zones-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s happening now?<\/h2>\n
Once the government postponed the scheme in February, ministers gave local leaders until July to create a new proposal to meet legal air quality standards by 2026. A draft document was drawn up, one that now incorporates a \u00a3120m government grant to help fund vehicle upgrades. There\u2019s also a public consultation planned for these revised proposals for a Clean Air Zone in Greater Manchester. That\u2019s going to be held next year, in 2023.<\/p>\n
To be frank, it\u2019s an unenviable position to be in for the Greater Manchester authorities. On the one hand, the Clean Air Zone will have an undeniable impact on local businesses and taxi drivers, many of whom have barely had time to recover from Covid before they were hit with the latest cost of living crisis. There are also understandable doubts about the potential of the grant to make a material difference to those who really need it.<\/p>\n
On the other hand though, the environmental campaign group Client Earth has said that the delay is \u201cconcerning\u201d and that people\u2019s health would suffer – and you\u2019ve got to admit, they\u2019ve got a point too.<\/p>\n
The latest update is that the revised plans for a Clean Air Zone aren\u2019t going to move forward until after a new Prime Minister enters Number 10 – which realistically means we\u2019re looking at the first few weeks of September, at the very earliest. We\u2019ll just have to wait and see!<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re still thinking about scrapping your car regardless though, that\u2019s exactly where we can help here at Scrap Car Network. Our mission is to get you the most cash for your car, and we\u2019ve made sure that the entire process couldn\u2019t be easier \u2013\u00a0just enter your car reg\u00a0into our homepage<\/a><\/strong> to get a free, no obligation instant online quote. It only takes a few seconds. Curious to find out how much your car is worth?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, not quite. Let\u2019s be honest, we all know the entire saga has dragged on for quite some time now. It was originally all the way back in March 2020 when the government first issued a legal direction requiring the Greater Manchester local authorities to address the vehicle pollution problem, in an effort to curb […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":6141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n