Check now to prepare ahead of Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone launch

Encouraging all potentially impacted vehicle owners to use the vehicle checker:

Early action is being encouraged to prepare for the Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone (CAZ) which is due to launch on 30 May 2022. Once the CAZ is live, vehicles that do not meet emission standards will be subject to a daily charge to drive in the Zone.

The Greater Manchester CAZ will not include private cars, motorbikes and mopeds. However, it will include non-compliant light goods vehicles (LGVs) or vans, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), buses, coaches, hackney cabs, private hire vehicles (PHVs) and minibuses. The CAZ is Greater Manchester-wide, meaning it covers the ten Local Authority areas of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.

A new online ‘checker’ tool is available so vehicle owners can answer a series of simple questions at cleanairgm.com/prepare to find out whether their vehicle in non-compliant and would therefore incur charge to drive in the Zone, if they might be eligible for an exemption or financial support, and further vehicle-specific information regarding their options and timescales.

Financial Support Scheme applications are now open for owners of Greater Manchester-registered HGVs, to give them the maximum amount of time to apply, since they are included in the Zone from its launch. Letters are being sent to Greater Manchester-registered HGV owners that would be subject to Clean Air Zone daily charges to notify them directly about exemptions and the funding support that will be on offer. These will use DVLA data to directly contact those who would pay a charge from 30 May 2022, notifying them that funding applications open at the end of the month.

Financial support will be available as a lump sum grant, contribution towards vehicle financing, or a combination of the two.

Funding for Greater Manchester-licensed PHVs and hackney carriages, coaches, minibuses and LGVs will launch at the end of January 2022, ahead of their inclusion in the zone from 1 June 2023. These vehicle owners will also receive letters from early 2022 to notify them of exemptions and funding support available.

Anyone impacted is also being encouraged to sign up for updates around the CAZ and financial support scheme at www.cleanairgm.com/#newsletter.

If you require further information about Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone, please contact [email protected].