Friday 22 March 2019

Local authorities granted £25m to roll out greener buses

The government has announced a £25 million fund for local authorities to roll out greener buses in a bid to improve air quality.

A total of 14 councils will share the grant from the Clean Bus Technology Fund for projects that upgrade buses with technology to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions.

They include local authorities in Newcastle, London, Coventry, Oxford, Liverpool and Essex.

It follows last year's £40 million funding awarded to 20 local authorities, which saw them work with bus companies and technology providers to retrofit buses to reduce emissions.

The government is working with 61 English local authorities and has placed legal duties on them – underpinned by £495 million in funding – to tackle their NO2 exceedances.

Environment Minister Therese Coffey said: “We all know that air pollution is the top environmental risk to health in the UK. Nitrogen dioxide emissions must be lowered if we want to ensure cleaner and healthier air across the country.

“Local authorities are best placed to introduce systems that work for their areas, which is why we are working closely with them to ensure they have the appropriate funding and support.”

The latest funding will support the government's 2017 UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations, which sets out how councils with the worst levels of air pollution at busy road junctions and hotspots will take action.

Additional Information

The full list of local authorities that have been awarded funding are:

Local Authority	Sum awarded	Number of buses
Newcastle	£379,600	23
Leicester	£983,250	53
London	£983,250	500
Bristol	£983,250	166
Gateshead	£230,750	13
Manchester	£2,994,000	176
West Midlands	£2,987,750	222
Coventry	£2,517,500	131
Oxford	£671,550	37
West Yorkshire	£2,975,875	179
South Tyneside	£133,952	8
Liverpool	£2,520,643	129
Sheffield	£3,000,000	160
Essex	£387,064	20
Total	£25,270,264.00	1817