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Posted on the 19th February 2025 in PHTM News
GREATER MANCHESTER ORDERED TO REPAY £22.5 MILLION FUNDING ORIGINALLY FOR CLEAN TAXI FUND
Greater Manchester has been instructed to return £22.5 million to government that was originally allocated for its Clean Air Zone (CAZ) after the scheme was scrapped.
More than £100m has been spent on the controversial scheme that included charging some motorists up to £60 a day to drive in the area. However, following a public backlash, the plan was paused in 2022.
In January the government decided that no charges would be imposed on drivers after local leaders successfully argued that air quality could be improved without charging motorists, through an "investment-led" approach.
Greater Manchester will now focus on spending £51 million on cleaner buses, £5 million on traffic management, and £8 million for taxi fleet upgrades.
Setting out their revised plans last year, transport bosses said they needed £123.7m to clean up the air without charging motorists, including £30.5m for the Clean Taxi Fund and up to £37.1m for development, administration, risk and contingency costs.
But the government has only allowed Greater Manchester to 'repurpose' £86m of the previously agreed funding for its new plans.
The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has told the M.E.N. that the extra £22.5m of funding originally earmarked for the Clean Taxi Fund will now need to be returned to the government.
Defra said that this money will be spent on other schemes to improve air quality with details to be announced 'in due course'.
Asked why Greater Manchester will only get £8m for its Clean Taxi Fund, Defra said that the evidence submitted by local leaders suggested that the city-region's air quality will be legally compliant 'in the shortest possible time' without the full £30.5m for taxis.
However, the government department said that it agreed to contribute £8m to clean hackney cabs in Greater Manchester on the basis that this will 'provide further assurance' that Greater Manchester will achieve air quality compliance in the shortest possible time.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) confirmed that any outstanding Clean Air funding will need to be returned to the government with officials now discussing the timings of those arrangements.
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