Agenda item

A report from the Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate Change and Operations is attached.

Councillor Alan Quinn, the Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate Change and Operations, presented the report which set out the progress made on the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan.

In response to a Member’s question, it was noted that small businesses were vulnerable, but £5,000 grants were available to support retrofitting of vans. There might be a shortage of some models, the proposed final Plan will achieve compliance with the legal limits for Nitrogen Dioxide within Greater Manchester and by 2024 at the latest as required by the Ministerial Direction. but an extra year’s grace has been secured to allow the market to develop and for supply to increase.

Decision:

That Cabinet:

1.        Note the progress of the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan;

2.        Note the progress in the distribution of Bus Retrofit funding;

3.        Note Ministers’ agreement to include the sections of the A628/A57 in Tameside which form part of the Strategic Road Network within the Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) and their request for Tameside MBC, TfGM and Highways England to establish the most appropriate solution for the charging mechanism to be applied on this section of the Strategic Road Network (SRN);

4.        Approve the GM Clean Air Plan Policy, at Appendix 1 noting that the policy outlines the boundary, discounts, exemptions, daily charges of the Clean Air Zone as well as the financial support packages offered towards upgrading to a compliant vehicle, including the eligibility criteria to be applied.

5.        Agree the Equalities Impact Assessment, as set out at Appendix 2;

6.        Agree the AECOM Consultation Report, as set out at Appendix 3;

7.        Agree the proposed Response to the Consultation at Appendix 4 which has been prepared by TfGM on behalf of the ten GM local authorities;

8.        Agree the Impacts of COVID-19 Report, as set out at Appendix 5;

9.        Agree the Modelling report of the final CAP package, as set out at Appendix 6, and in particular that the modelling outputs of the final plan scheme show the achievement of compliance with the legal limits for Nitrogen Dioxide in the shortest possible time and by 2024 at the latest as required by the Ministerial Direction;

10.     Agree the economic implications of the CAP Report, as set out at Appendix 7;

11.     Note the update on the GM Minimum Licensing Standards, set out in section 3.1, and in particular that licensing conditions will not be used to support delivery of the GM Clean Air Plan;

12.     Approve a 6-week public consultation on the inclusion of motorhomes classified as MSP1 in the GM Clean Air Zone and on the inclusion of the A575 and A580 at Worsley commencing on 1 September 2021 and delegate authority to the Executive Director of Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate Change and Operations to approve the consultation materials;

13.     Note that the GM Clean Air Charging Authorities Committee has the authority to make the Charging Scheme Order which establishes the GM Charging Scheme in line with the agreed GM Clean Air Plan Policy;

14.     Note that the GM Charging Authorities Committee has the authority to vary the Charging Scheme Order if this is established as the most appropriate charging mechanism to be applied on sections of the A628/A57 part of the Strategic Road Network (SRN) in Tameside;

15.     Note that the Air Quality Administration Committee has the authority to agree the final form of the Operational Agreement for the Central Clean Air Service, and to authorise the making of the Agreement, on behalf of the ten GM local authorities;

16.     Note that the Air Quality Administration Committee has the authority to:

a)   establish and distribute the funds set out in the agreed GM Clean Air Plan policy;

b)   approve the assessment mechanism agreed with JAQU to ensure that Clean Air Funds can be adapted if necessary;

c)    keep the use of the funds under review and to determine any changes in the amounts allocated to each and their use and

d)   Monitor and evaluate the joint local charging scheme.

17.     Approve the reallocation of funding from the Try Before You Buy scheme to provide additional electric vehicle charging points dedicated for use by taxis;

18.     Delegate to the GM Charging Authorities Committee the authority to determine the outcome of the consultation on both the inclusion of motorhomes classified as MSP1 within the scope of Clean Air Zone charges and on the inclusion in the GM Clean Air Zone of the A575 and A580 at Worsley following the conclusion of that consultation;

19.     Agree the Clean Air Zone ANPR and signage locations, as set out at Appendix 10;

20.           Agree a delegation to Executive Director of Operations in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Climate Change and Operations to approve the submission of the Interim Full Business Case if required and the Full Business Case (FBC) to the Government's Joint Air Quality Unit to support the GM Clean Air Plan and any supplementary information to that Unit.

Reasons for the decision:

The ten Greater Manchester local authorities, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), collectively referred to as “GM”, have worked together to develop this Clean Air Plan to tackle NO2 Exceedances at the Roadside, referred to as GM CAP. The core goal of the GM CAP is to address the legal requirement to achieve compliance with the legal Limit Value (40 ?g/m3) for NO2 identified through the target determination process in Greater Manchester in the “shortest possible time” in line with Government guidance.

Other options considered and rejected:

Throughout the development of the plan GM has considered a range of options to deliver compliance, overseen by the GM Steering Group, and to understand the type and scale of intervention needed to reduce NO2 to within legal Limit Values in the “shortest possible time” across Greater Manchester.