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Andy Burnham is holding a press conference on Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone this afternoon after it was announced the government has granted a delay.
The GMCA now has until July to submit a revised plan, the government announced.
The Greater Manchester Mayor will make a statement at 3pm alongside councillor Andrew Western, GMCA portfolio lead for clean air.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that the plan needed to be put on hold to ‘avoid stuffing up businesses’.
The Prime Minister had previously branded the plan, which would see the most polluting vehicles having to pay £60 a day, ‘completely unworkable’.
Mr Burnham has urged the government to ‘take the politics out’ of the situation and work together on a solution.
READ MORE: ‘It’s a complete con!’: More than 100 taxis stage Clean Air Zone protests across Greater Manchester
And today, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced they would grant a delay.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the government said: “The government has carefully considered the Mayor’s proposal and following meetings last week and further discussions today, the Environment Secretary has agreed to allow a short delay to the implementation of the Clean Air Zone.
“This will allow Greater Manchester to provide further evidence and a revised plan by July setting out how it will deliver legal levels of NO2 as soon as possible, and no later than 2026.”
This afternoon’s press conference comes after hundreds of taxi drivers protested against the proposals yesterday.
Some 100 taxi drivers assembled at the Etihad Stadium before making their way into Manchester city centre, blowing their horns as they looped past the mayor’s offices in Oxford Road.
The Clean Air Zone is set to come into force from May (Image: PA)
At least 40 drivers also took part in a convoy from Salford.
Boris Johnson said yesterday that an announcement on the Clean Air Zone in Greater Manchester could come ‘very soon’.
The first phase is currently set to be launched in May.
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