- Date
- 27 December 2024
- Details
-
Like many areas, Greater Manchester has illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide air pollution on some local roads. Poor air quality affects everyone’s health. It’s linked to conditions like asthma, heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and early deaths.
The 10 Local Authorities are under a legal direction from Government, to meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide on local roads, in the shortest possible time and by 2026 at the latest.
The Greater Manchester proposal is to use clean air funding, that the Government awarded to the Greater Manchester Local Authorities, to deliver an investment-led plan which supports vehicle upgrade.
The investment-led plan includes a £30.5m investment by Government in the form of a Clean Taxi Fund. The Clean Taxi Fund will provide financial support to help every eligible hackney carriage and private hire vehicle (licensed with a Greater Manchester authority on the 1 October 2024) to upgrade to cleaner vehicles and meet new emission standards by 31st December 2025.
Information on the Clean Taxi Fund and grant amounts can be found on the Clean Air Greater Manchester website which can be viewed by following this link: Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan | Clean Air Greater Manchester
Transport for Greater Manchester will manage the Clean Taxi Fund and applications for grants. Bolton Council will have no involvement in the grant process. Grants will be issued directly to applicants, who can demonstrate that they meet the relevant criteria, rather than through dealerships. This will give more flexibility over selling and buying a new vehicle.
On the 11th December 2024, Bolton Council approved the new emission standard for all Bolton licensed hackney carriage and private hire vehicles. The other 9 Local Authority’s across Greater Manchester have also adopted the new standard.
The emission standard requires licensed vehicles with an internal combustion engine to be a Euro 4 petrol (vehicles first registered in January 2006), Euro 6 diesel (vehicles first registered in September 2016), or a fully zero-emissions capable electric vehicle.
All Bolton licensed vehicles will be required to comply with this standard by 31st December 2025 (subject to the release of funding from the Clean Taxi Fund). From this date all new vehicle licence applications must meet the approved emission standard.
However, the emission standard will only be implemented if the Government agree to release the Clean Taxi Fund, and appropriate financial resources are in place to enable every eligible licensed vehicle proprietor, to benefit from the funding on application. The Government has not yet approved the release of the Clean Taxi Fund and the Greater Manchester Local Authorities are awaiting their overdue response.
A copy of the report considered by the Licensing & Environmental Regulation Committee is available on Bolton Councils website and can be viewed by following this link: Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan - Emission Standards and Clean Taxi Fund.pdf
The Committee approved the recommendations outlined in the report which are duplicated below:
- Agree the proposed amendment and introduce a mandatory emissions standard of Euro 6 (diesel) and Euro 4 (petrol) for all licensed hackney carriage and private hire vehicles, including new applications, and all licensed vehicles to be compliant with this standard by 31st December 2025, subject to the Government opening up sufficient funding for vehicle upgrades; and
- Agree that reasonable discretion can be applied to the implementation date in exceptional circumstances, whereby reasons beyond control prevent a licensed vehicle proprietor from obtaining a vehicle that is emission compliant (to acknowledge potential supply and availability issues on certain types of vehicle).
Once a decision has been reached by Government, and this has been shared with the 10 Local Authorities, we will write to you again setting out the next steps. In the meantime, if you have any questions regarding the emission standards, please email the licensing team at licensing.unit@bolton.gov.uk