Greater Manchester is now facing a multi-million-pound shortfall and the scheme is still not up and running
More than £60m has been spent so far on Greater Manchester's Clean Air Zone despite the controversial scheme still never having gone ahead. The plans to charge the most polluting taxis, vans, lorries and buses on the city-region's roads were paused earlier this year following a public backlash.
However, according to government guidance, all of the operational costs, such as the contractual and staff costs, were supposed to be covered by the revenues generated from the scheme. This includes the cost of deploying 407 Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras for which £3.5m has been paid out to contractor Egis so far.
In addition to this, TfGM says it needs another £4m from the government for the additional feasibility work required as part of the Clean Air Plan review. Since 2017, more than £30m has been spent on developing the plans, with all the work carried out funded by the government's Joint Air Quality Unit .
All of the spending is supposed to be covered by the government, but Greater Manchester is forecasting a funding shortfall of £13m within this financial year. The figures were revealed in a report to councillors on the Greater Manchester Air Quality Administration Committee which is scheduled to meet next week.