Oldham man asks Burnham for CAZ compliant lorry compensation

Mick, from Saddleworth, put the request to the mayor on his weekly BBC Radio Manchester hotseat program, saying he had previously asked the question in August but had not received a response.

The mayor apologised to the caller for not responding to his request sooner, but blamed the national government for forcing mayors to "hold the can for a policy that we didn’t invent and don’t control".

On the phone, Mick said: “I bought a vehicle basically that I don’t need, I bought it in the spirit of the scheme and in August he said he’d come back.

“I wrote to the office of the mayor, I’ve telephoned the office of the mayor, my MP has written to the mayor twice now in December and January, Debbie Abrahams, and she’s had no response.

“Is there going to be a compensation scheme for people who bought vehicles that are compliant and now don’t need them, or what’s happening, because we just cannot get a response writing, phoning, the only way we can get hold of the mayor is by speaking to him on the radio.”

Mayor apologetic in response

Mr Burnham said: “Let me apologise, I honestly didn’t know there had been no response, you’re telling me something that I wasn’t aware of and that simply isn’t good enough.

“I’m sorry that you’ve had no response, I will get on to it today, you are at the very least entitled to a full response.”

Mick went on to say that buying the compliant lorry had left him ‘struggling’, especially given the cost-of-living crisis.

“This whole thing’s been miss-sold to the people of Manchester, hundreds of people have bought compliant vehicles that didn’t need to and there’s got to be some kind of compensation scheme for them,” Mick added.

The mayor responded: “It’s important for me to say though that we don’t necessarily control the rules about all of this, I know people like to say it was all invented here, well it wasn’t.

“We were required to go down this path, and the funding comes from a national level, and some of the rules linked to the funding are signed off by ministers at a national level.”

Andy Burnham responded to the call on his weekly phone-in show (Image: BBC)

The mayor added: “If you did what was right in the spirit of what was asked of you, I personally don’t believe in being punished for doing that, the only thing I would say is, I’ll be honest, it’s been a nightmare this situation, from my point of view.

“We did not design the whole Clean Air infrastructure, if you look around at Bradford, at Sheffield, they’ve had to introduce the same and if you speak to the mayors in those places they will say the same. It’s frustrating for us.

“We’re left holding the can for a policy that we didn’t invent and we don’t control, and it has been the case, in our view anyway, and some people won’t agree with this but I’ll say it, national government has basically thrown this one at local government, tried to keep no fingerprints on it, and left everyone at local level trying to deal with it, but it’s not good enough and let me come back to you with a full answer by next week.”

The full episode of Burnham’s hot seat can be watched on Facebook Live or streamed with audio on BBC Sounds.

Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone was paused in February last year.

Drivers of lorries, buses and coaches which did not meet emissions standards would have been charged £60 a day to enter Greater Manchester boundaries from May 2022, while non-compliant vans, taxis and private hire vehicles were set to face daily charges of £7.50 in 2023.

Some funding was available for upgrading vehicles, but the government’s final offer of £120m was less than what Greater Manchester had asked for.

Drivers of private cars would not have faced a charge.

Now, updated proposals involving a non-charging Clean Air Zone have been submitted to the Government.

‘Gaps in the evidence’ on new CAZ plan

A Government spokesperson said: “We have reviewed Greater Manchester’s proposals and identified a number of underlying gaps in the evidence, meaning it is not yet possible to understand how the proposed approach will achieve compliance with NO2 limits in the shortest possible time.

“We have requested further evidence from the Greater Manchester authorities to enable us to consider the plans further.”