Leaders of the city region’s 10 local authorities will be asked to endorse the new plan at a meeting this Friday. Next month a new strategy for electric vehicle charging infrastructure for Greater Manchester is set to be published.

The city region also announced that bike share company Beryl will soon operate 1500 hire cycles and electric bikes from over 200 docking stations across Manchester, Trafford and Salford.

Greater Manchester’s Transport Commissioner Chris Boardman described the clean air document as representing “a major milestone” for the city region. “Not only do we have a solid plan to make vehicles on our roads cleaner, we’ll soon be bringing cycle hire to our streets – providing a healthy, convenient, non polluting transport option for tens of thousands of people,” he said.

Also on the subject of cleaner air the Government has issued its response to the Coroner who looked into the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah in 2013, where air pollution was a significant contributory factor.

In his report two months ago Philip Barlow said urgent action was required to prevent further deaths and there was low public awareness of the sources of information about pollution levels. He added that the adverse effects of air pollution on health were not being sufficiently communicated to patients and their carers.

On Thursday the Government said that action will be taken to increase public awareness about air pollution. Existing sources of information including UK Air and the Daily Air Quality Index will be reviewed to include more specific messaging for different population groups to help health professionals who advise patients when poor air quality is forecast.

The Government will also look at working with relevant health charities on longer term campaigns aimed specifically at vulnerable groups. An additional £6M will also be added to the annual funding pot for local authorities as part of the Air Quality Grant scheme, part of which will be dedicated to improving public awareness in local communities about the risks of air pollution.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said the response is part of a much wider cross Government effort “to drive forward tangible and long lasting changes to improve the air we breathe, as well as doing more to inform the public about the risks”.

But the British Safety Council said the Government’s response fails to set out concrete actions to both reduce harmful levels of ambient air pollution and limit exposure to toxic air. 

Chief executive Mike Robinson said: “The Government should act immediately to enshrine into UK law the World Health Organisation limits for PM2.5, as well as the WHO limits for other harmful pollutants including PM10, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

“We urge the Government to step up and show greater urgency and accountability for reducing air pollution and quite frankly for strong leadership ahead of the UN Climate Conference being held in Glasgow in November.”

(Photograph: Lana Elcova - Shutterstock)

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