How Manchester's air quality proposals affect Cheshire East

The council formally wrote to leaders in Greater Manchester late last year over the proposals, saying they would hit the borough’s businesses ‘more severely’, and argued that charges across all of Greater Manchester’s boroughs were "disproportionate to the problems", according to the BBC.

That being said, ward members near the border in Handforth have also told the LDRS they believe air quality should be protected — so a difficult balance needs to be struck.

What are the proposals?

A clean air zone — CAZ — would require some lorries, coaches, and buses to pay £60 per day to travel across Greater Manchester.

It’s in an effort to bring pollution levels down.

As part of the plans, a public consultation was launched on the issue, which Cllr Craig Browne — CEC deputy leader and cabinet member for strategic transport — said the council ‘welcomed’ and ‘engaged positively with it’.

He added: “Officers and elected members have been holding helpful and constructive meetings with their counterparts at Greater Manchester to help ensure that the interests and concerns of CEC and our residents are taken on board.”

With conversations between the city-region and council ongoing, CEC says a number of alterations are on the table to areas like the Woodford peninsula, which is an area of Greater Manchester which sticks out into Cheshire, and contains part of the A555.

What has been agreed?

In the same statement, Cllr Browne said: “We now have a proposal to exclude the A555 from the CAZ, and an acknowledgement that bus operators based within Cheshire East will be able to access Cleaner Bus Fund support, provided they are delivering a cross-border service between the neighbouring authorities. 

“We have also brought to Greater Manchester’s attention the potential impact on Cheshire East-registered taxi drivers, due to the inclusion of Manchester Airport within the CAZ.”

There is also an understanding that to-be-completed Poynton bypass will also be exempted.

On the talks, Trafford Council Leader Andrew Western, who is also the Greater Manchester green city-region lead, said: “Poor air quality obviously doesn’t respect council boundaries and we want to make sure our Clean Air Plan reduces air pollution across the city-region, which is why we’re working together as ten local authorities to tackle this serious health issue. 

“During the recent consultation on the Clean Air Plan proposal we sought comments on the Clean Air Zone boundary and had constructive conversations with neighbouring councils, including Cheshire East. Work is now under way to review and fully consider the information gathered from the consultation – as well as further work on the impact of Covid-19 on people and businesses affected by the plans.”

Cllr Findlow (left) raised the issue at a cabinet meeting this week, with mayor Cllr Burkhill (right) aware of the air quality issue

What has the reaction been?

As the proposals are just that — proposals — much of the detail councillors like to get their teeth into is not up for public discussion yet.

That being said, some have raised concerns about air quality more generally.

Cllr Barry Burkhill, a Handforth representative and CEC’s Mayor, said: “When we get back to normality the by-pass has some particular problems — which is overflow and that leads into Stockport and Greater Manchester. 

“They have their own issues and we will be adding to it and their traffic coming into Handforth will exacerbate our issues.

“Clean air has not been a concern in the past and it is coming to the fore — the government are realising there are lives lost because of the extra emissions.

“It is a big concern nowadays and councils have to take cognisance of it with policy when they are initiating them.”

The issue was also raised at a CEC cabinet meeting on January 12, when Cllr Paul Findlow asked leaders what policies were in mind to mitigate the economic damage of the CAZ.

His reply from Cllr Browne was much the same as the one given to the LDRS, which perhaps just underlines how preliminary discussions are over the CAZ.