Greater Manchester mayor candidate vows to remove clean air cameras

Mr Barker said the cameras "need to go", adding: "We don't need them, people don't want them"

The Conservative standing to be Greater Manchester's mayor has said he wants to get rid of cameras that were put up for a proposed Clean Air Zone.

Dan Barker has been chosen by the Tories to stand for the role currently held by Labour's Andy Burnham.

The nuclear industry project manager has been a party activist from Sale.

He said his priorities would be "economic growth, crime reduction, healthcare, environmental conservation and homelessness".

He said a key policy promise would be ensuring the roadside cameras installed to monitor traffic as part of a proposed Clean Air Zone (CAZ) were pulled down.

The cameras have been installed across all ten Greater Manchester boroughs to track motorists and identify high polluting vehicles which could potentially be subject to a fine once the CAZ is operating.

But the scheme has been beset with problems and delays, and Mr Barker said they were unnecessary because the current proposed zone is too big and he would adjust it - using other measures to focus only on local areas where air pollution is a particular issue.

"The cameras need to go. We don't need them, people don't want them," he said.

"There's been a big public backlash.

"It's been a shameful waste of taxpayers' money and it was a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

'Money wasted'

More than 400 roadside cameras were installed at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.

Plans for the zone have been delayed as the government considers whether a proposal from the mayor and ten councils for a "non-charging zone" would meet legal requirements for reducing air pollution.

Mr Barker said he would refocus the plans if he is elected.

"The clean air still needs to be sorted out and what I would do is have targeted local measures to rectify the air in those areas where we know there's an issue," he said.

"It's a shame to see all that money wasted on cameras but I think people just don't trust it."

The mayoral elections will take place on 2 May 2024.

Other candidates to publicly announce their intention to stand have been Mr Burnham and Nick Buckley, an independent.