New message for Manchester Clean Air Zone signs after plans came unstuck

Stickers which will be put on Clean Air Zone (CAZ) signs with the wrong date on them will read 'Under Review', Greater Manchester leaders have revealed.

More than 1,000 CAZ signs installed across the city-region currently state the original start date of May 30 - but the scheme has now been delayed.

It comes after the government agreed to move the deadline it set for Greater Manchester to lower air pollution below legal limits by two years to 2026.

Greater Manchester leaders will now work with the government to design a 'substantially different' scheme which could come into force as soon as July.

Stickers saying 'Under Review' will be used to cover the 1,194 out-of-date signs - with the cost of the stickers yet to be finalised.

Councillors from each borough have been meeting to discuss the latest developments with the Clean Air Zone.

The Clean Air Zone was planned in a bid to reduce harmful air pollution in the region.

Commercial and passenger vehicles deemed as 'most polluting' would have had to pay a daily charge to travel in the Zone.

It was hoped it will reduce nitrogen dioxide air pollution at the roadside, bringing it down to within legal limits.

But serious concerns were raised about it, with the first few weeks of 2022 dominated by complaints.