Greater Manchester is introducing a clean air charging zone from 30th May 2022, with some vehicles having an automatic exemption until the 1st June 2023. The main vehicles impacted will be:
- Heavy goods vehicles
- Buses
- Coaches
- Hackney cabs and private hire vehicles
- Minibuses (2023)
- Vans (Light goods vehicles) (2023)
- Motorhomes/campervans/motorised horseboxes
The area of the zone is significant, as far west as Standish, as far north as Ramsbottom, as far east as Littleborough and as far south as Woodford and Manchester airport. As such, Wigan will be caught by the zone.
The charges would seem to range from £7.50 per day to £60 per day for the impacted vehicles and an online checker is available to ascertain if you are impacted. Failure to pay will result in a £120 fine plus the daily charge. Owners of private cars, motorbikes and mopeds won’t need to pay a daily charge to drive in the Zone.
Some vehicles will be exempt because they will already meet emissions criteria. You can find out if you have to pay here.
The charges seem to apply to Euro 5 or earlier diesels, or Euro 3 and earlier petrol vehicles. As such, any pre-2016 diesel and pre-2005 petrol vehicles.
Some financial support schemes are being offered via the clean air website, with over £120m of government funding available to try to help people, businesses and organisations get cleaner vehicles. There is currently no intention to extend the scheme to private cars. The Clean Air Zone Financial Support Scheme will assist the eligible groups in either replacing or retrofitting non-compliant vehicles to meet emissions standards.
To begin with, the funding will be targeted to support micro-businesses, sole traders, the voluntary sector and private owners and will be available as a lump sum grant, contribution towards vehicle financing or a combination of the two.
The scheme is currently open for applications from eligible HGV owners. Other eligible vehicle applications will follow in late January 2022. If you believe that you may be impacted by the change, then you can use the online checker to see if you will be caught in the live schemes (Bath, Birmingham, and, from 29th November 2021, Portsmouth).
A letter is being sent to more than 10,000 HGV owners around Greater Manchester to prepare for the launch of the new clean air zones – and how to avoid being charged. The CAZ will be the largest of its kind in the country, covering all ten boroughs and an area of around 493 square miles.
If you need further detail please get in touch with your usual NR Barton advisor, or contact reception on 01942 242245.
