LIVE FROM EVONORTH 

Councillor Andrew Western is the Leader of Trafford Council and Greater Manchester Green City Region Lead and delivered a speech at the recent EvoNorth event about GM’s plans for a green city region.

Cllr Western delves deep into the ‘extremely challenges process’ of achieving a green city region in Greater Manchester but instills the importance of doing so.

“The clean air crisis in GM is currently contributing to 1,200 deaths in the city region in each year across all ages.”

According to Cllr Western, Greater Manchester’s approach is the most ambitious in terms of scale and size as the proposal currently stands at introducing a clean air zone across the whole of Greater Manchester. 

“We stand ready to deliver a clean air zone and are more than willing to do so but obviously it brings challenges, particularly around the public transport fleet but also for businesses as well.”

When discussing the notion of fining non-compliant vehicles, he said: “I don’t want to see people paying the penalty, for me that’s the worst option available it’s about incentivising people to change their vehicle.”

This bonus episode highlights the need for a sustainable clean air plan to support the ‘strong and vibrant local economy’ in Greater Manchester.

“We would not drink dirty water so why on earth do we accept breathing dirty air”

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