Ultra Low Emissions Zones (ULEZ) have started to become the norm for many of Britain’s cities.

The first ULEZ was introduced in London in April 2019 and was designed to charge older and more polluting vehicles for entering the area as a way of promoting other forms of transport.

The main purpose of a ULEZ is to cut down on pollution and emissions from transportation, and recently, other cities around the UK have introduced their own clean air zones.

However, Greater Manchester’s plans have recently been axed after the government approved a new plan to lower the city’s emissions.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of the pros and cons and questions of the clean air zone not going ahead in Greater Manchester.

Pros:

Firstly, the axing of the proposal will mean that drivers will not be penalised for driving older vehicles that would have been charged to enter the city centre.

Secondly, people will not be forced to sell or scrap their older vehicles in favour of newer and cleaner ones to drive around Manchester.

Finally, it will make public transport less congested as people will be able to use their vehicles without having to worry about being charged to drive around. This can be an issue in London where lots of people have sold their cars and now use public transport.

Cons:

The drawbacks to the clean air zone being scrapped are that the city will have increased pollution levels. Plus, congestion will still be a problem as the same amount of vehicles will be allowed to enter the city.

It will increase the risk to public health, as a highly polluted city can cause cardiovascular problems, premature deaths and respiratory issues.

Finally, discouraging a clean air zone will make it harder to persuade people to buy cleaner hybrids and EVs moving forward, putting further pressure on meeting tougher emission targets.

What is the new plan?

The new plan will go under the name of Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA).

It’s an investment-led clean air plan which has been approved by the UK government. A total expenditure of £86 million will be used to update the city's public transportation fleet. This includes £51.1 million in updating Manchester’s bus fleet – which will lead to 40 electric and 77 Euro 6 diesel examples being added.

Other investments will be changes to traffic management and financial support for taxi drivers to switch to cleaner hybrid and electric vehicles.

What is Manchester’s clean air plan?

The Manchester clean air plan was submitted to the government in July 2022 by 10 of Greater Manchester’s local authorities.

It supported evidence to try and introduce an approach to cut down on the city’s increasing nitrogen oxide levels.

The plan proposed funding of £120 million from the government to help upgrade vehicles such as HGVs and buses that were causing the higher levels of nitrogen oxide in the city.

Which other clean air zones are located around the UK?

Ever since London kickstarted ULEZ plans, there are a number of different cities located around the UK that now have a clean air zone.

These include Aberdeen, Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Oxford, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Tyneside.

Cities such as London, Edinburgh and Bristol have strict requirements. Diesel cars have to be Euro 6 compliant at the very least (registered before 2015) while petrol must meet Euro 4 levels (registered after January 2006).

If your vehicle does not meet these requirements, there is a charge of £12.50 a day to drive into London while Bristol charges £9 a day to drive into its city centre.