Clean air zone costs hit more than £100m

More than 1,300 clean air zone signs had been installed across Greater Manchester

More than £100m in taxpayer funding has been spent on the now cancelled clean air zone in Greater Manchester.

The figure has been revealed in a report for local authorities in the region, where thousands of cameras and signs were installed under plans to charge drivers of polluting vehicles up to £60 a day.

The plan was dropped after backlash in 2022, and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham put forward an alternative proposal to invest in cleaner buses and taxis that was signed off by the government last month.

"A significant amount" of the cash had already been spent on clean vehicle upgrades, a spokesperson for Clean Air Greater Manchester said.

Authorities are looking at how the clean air zone infrastructure can be repurposed

The report, set to be discussed by a Greater Manchester Combined Authority committee on air quality, showed about £104m had been spent on the clean air plans.

Of that, £36.6m was spent on implementing and operating the clean air zone and £27m on financial support including grants to drivers upgrade to electric vehicles.

All of the expenditure has been funded by central government, the Clean Air for Greater Manchester spokesperson said.

'Eye-watering'

Across Greater Manchester, 462 cameras with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology had been installed in anticipation of the clean air zone being introduced.

They cost the combined authority £375,000 a month, with 97 vandalised and five taken down, leaving 260 operational, while about £3m has been spent on 1,300 signs warning drivers about the zone.

Transport for Greater Manchester and the combined authority are working "to assess the potential to repurpose and explore alternative uses for the equipment and signage to minimise waste", the report said.

The Clean Air GM spokesperson said: "A significant amount of funding has already been spent on cleaning up our air through clean vehicle upgrades, with further investment to come in cleaner buses and funding for taxi upgrades as part of our investment-led plan."

Willam Yardwood from the campaign group Taxpayer's Alliance said there needed to be closer scrutiny of these kinds of projects after the "eye-watering" sum was revealed.