Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone: Cameras to monitor vehicles

Clean air zone charges, similar to those in Birmingham and Bath, have been paused in Greater Manchester

Traffic cameras set up as part of the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone (CAZ) are set to be turned on to collect vehicle information in the region.

The scheme was put on hold earlier this month after opposition from businesses over the cost of making vehicles compliant.

Data gathered from cameras will be used to monitor vehicle types using the region's roads, the Air Quality Administration Committee agreed.

A new plan will be submitted by 1 July.

The cameras were originally installed as part of the CAZ, which was planned to start in May, and last week it emerged that signs with the wrong date on them would be covered with a sticker.

The stickers will read 'Under Review', Greater Manchester leaders have now said.

The cost of the stickers is yet to be finalised, but a spokesperson for Clean Air Greater Manchester has confirmed it will be funded by the government.

The traffic data collected from the cameras will inform a new proposal to be submitted to the government.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the government needed to think about the clean air zone in a "completely different way".

"We need to do this without threatening jobs or businesses," he said.

"We want to see complete minimisation with regards to charging if not the complete avoidance of it all together."

The controversial CAZ scheme originally proposed that high-emission vehicles would pay daily charges ranging from £7.50 to £60, while private cars would not have to pay.