Greater Manchester's Clean Air Zone should be cut to just the city centre, says government

The government says Greater Manchester's Clean Air Zone should be cut to just the city centre. Secretary of State George Eustice has written to mayor Andy Burnham saying the controversial scheme should still charge the most polluting taxis, vans, buses and lorries.

However the CAZ should no longer cover the whole of the city-region, and suggests slashing the boundaries by at least 95 pc. Mr Burnham - who has recently called for all charges to be scrapped - says this means charging some vehicles for driving within Manchester's inner ring road.

But Mr Eustice said there is 'little robust evidence' that offering funding for vehicle upgrades alone without charges would bring pollution below legal limits. It comes after the controversial scheme which was due to come into force across the whole of Greater Manchester this week was put halted and the deadline by which the city-region must meet air quality targets was delayed.

READ MORE: Six weeks until new Clean Air Zone plan - what happens next and what it means for you

Greater Manchester must now agree a new scheme with the government which achieves air quality compliance within NO2 limits no later than 2026.

In the letter sent today (June 1), Mr Eustice said: "A highly-targeted Category C charging scheme, over a small area where NO2 impacts are most concentrated, in practice Manchester city centre, could represent a path between two extremes, achieving most of the public health benefits of the original scheme while greatly reducing the potential impacts on local businesses.

"Early thoughts by my department are that you should be challenging yourselves to a reduction of the zone by some 95% or more. Similar or more ambitious schemes have been introduced or are soon to