Fund set up for HGV owners as Stockport prepares for introduction of GM-wide Clean Air Zone

The Clean Air Zone, which will launch on 30 May 2022, will not include private cars, motorbikes and mopeds

Fund set up for HGV owners as Stockport prepares for introduction of GM-wide Clean Air Zone

The Greater Manchester-wide Clean Air Zone is coming to Stockport from next spring, helping to tackle the problem of air pollution, which contributes towards at least 1,200 deaths per year in the city-region.

The Clean Air Zone, which will launch on 30 May 2022, will not include private cars, motorbikes and mopeds. However, vehicles that don’t meet emission standards – including light goods vehicles (LGVs) or vans, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), buses, coaches, hackney cabs, private hire vehicles (PHVs) and minibuses – will be charged.

GM has secured £120m government funding to help regional businesses, people and organisations upgrade to cleaner, compliant vehicles and avoid a daily charge.

Financial Support Scheme applications are now open for GM-registered HGVs, to give them the maximum amount of time to apply, since they are included in the zone from its launch. £7.6m will be made available initially to help affected HGV owners upgrade or retrofit ahead of the zone going live.

The first round of funding will aim to support GM’s smaller businesses, sole traders and the voluntary sector and clean up the oldest, dirtiest vehicles.
Funding for GM-licensed PHV 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.

Greater Manchester’s councils are under direction from government to introduce the category C Clean Air Zone to secure compliance with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) legal limits on local roads in the shortest possible time, and by 2024 at the latest.

Find out if you are impacted by the zone, eligible for support and sign up for updates at Clean Air GM.