Andy Burnham defends scrapping Clean Air Zone charges after parents slam 'epidemic'

The number of children admitted to Manchester hospitals with breathing problems has soared by hundreds in just one year

Andy Burnham insists a charging Clean Air Zone ‘would have not made the difference’ to pollution which parents say is contributing to an epidemic of serious lung problems and respiratory illnesses.

The number of children, toddlers and babies admitted to Manchester hospitals with breathing problems has soared by hundreds in just one year, clean air campaigners say.

And parents say a non-charging Clean Air Zone (CAZ) - confirmed by the government earlier this year - ‘lacks ambition and won’t go nearly far enough to cut illegal levels of pollution’ plaguing the city.

But the Greater Manchester Mayor says that a charging CAZ, which would have seen some motorists charged up to £60 a day, ‘would have trapped people paying a charge but unable to afford to change their vehicle’.

The mayor’s comments come after the Manchester Evening News reported on new figures obtained by campaign group, Mums for Lungs, under the Freedom of Information Act. The numbers show that in the last two years nearly 8,500 children were admitted to the specialist paediatric respiratory services at Manchester University Foundation NHS Trust, or seen as outpatients.

The hospitals include Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wythenshawe Hospital, and North Manchester General.

The number of under-18s attending hospitals has gone up by 520 in only 12 months, the figures show.

Babies and toddlers are particularly affected. Young children aged three or under admitted to hospital or attending outpatient services for specialist respiratory medicine has jumped by 33 per cent from 654 to 872.

And speaking to BBC Radio Manchester this morning (April 24), the mayor said: "[Mums for Lungs] are right to raise the health impact on kids of poor air quality. We can't turn away from the issue.

“Five years ago, we had 129 locations where there was too much nitrogen dioxide in the air, above the legal limit. It’s fallen by half, there are 64 now and it's coming down all the time as we bring in more and more electric buses to the Bee Network.

"That’s the biggest change that’s driving this reduction. There's no complacency here.

"For those that say we should have had a charging Clean Air Zone, the conclusion we reached was it would have not made the difference because it would have trapped people paying a charge but unable to afford to change their vehicle.

“It would not have achieved the clean air goal in the way that we all want to see.”

The most up-to-date verified figures from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs' (DEFRA) air quality compliance hub, from 2023, show that Manchester has the worst air pollution levels in the country.

The annual limit set by government for nitrogen dioxide is 40μg m⁻³ , while Manchester’s was 55 μg m⁻³. The UK government instructed Manchester to become compliant with air pollution laws by 2024.

Levels of nitrogen dioxide in Manchester increased by six per cent from 2021 to 2023, and it is the only local authority in excess of legal limits that is continuing to see an upward trajectory, according to the DEFRA numbers.

But Mr Burnham said the region's new transport network would help resolve the issues.

"The Bee Network is the answer,” he continued. “It does not just deal with nitrogen dioxide out of the exhaust pipe. It also reduces particulates – the stuff in the air that comes from brakes and tyres, that’s another part of air pollution.

“By getting more people on public transport, you reduce the number of cars, you therefore reduce particulates as well.

“We say that’s a much better way of reducing air pollution. Electric buses are entering service all the time, and air pollution is dropping week by week."

'I wish our leaders would take action'

This morning, the M.E.N. reported how one mum visited A&E as many as seven times over the course of her son’s first five years as he ‘struggled for breath’. She believes her child's condition was made worse by pollution around her home near the Didsbury village area of Wilmslow Road – one end of what is often referred to as the ‘busiest bus route in Europe’.

Dr Sinead Millwood, an NHS GP in Levenshulme, said: “All the evidence shows that there is a clear connection between high levels of air pollution and respiratory conditions.

“It can lead to poorly developed lungs, asthma and respiratory infections as well as affecting their brain development and ability to learn.

“I often see kids with these preventable illnesses and wish our leaders would take the action needed to address this.”

Speaking to the M.E.N., Clean Air Greater Manchester have said its latest data suggests pollution levels are now falling across the region, and TfGM remains 'committed' to "cleaning up the air that we breathe".

The latest air quality monitoring data undertaken in Greater Manchester by the Clean Air Plan (CAP) for 2023 is also understood to show air pollution has fallen overall in Greater Manchester compared to 2022, and is significantly lower than levels recorded pre-pandemic in 2019.

'All evidence shows CAZ won't go far enough'

The region shelved plans for a charging Clean Air Zone after leaders said their 'investment-led' plan - which included introducing 117 new lower and zero-emission buses and giving cabbies £8m to upgrade their vehicles - would cut air pollution in the shortest possible time, no later than 2026

However, clean air campaigners have argued that this alternative plans do not go far enough.

And Liz Godfrey, a parent-of-two, who runs the Manchester Mums for Lungs group, said: “We have an epidemic of serious lung problems and respiratory illnesses amongst our youngest and most vulnerable in our city, we need politicians like Andy Burnham and city councillors to take action urgently to protect little lungs.

“There are nearly half a million polluting diesel cars and vans on the roads of Manchester. We need a clear and comprehensive plan to reduce the impact of these vehicles and clean up the toxic air we all have to breathe.

“The Mayor and other politicians in Greater Manchester assure us that plans for a non-charging clean air zone will work. However all the evidence – from illegal levels of pollution to children struggling to breathe in our hospitals – shows that it lacks ambition and won’t go nearly far enough to succeed in cutting illegal levels of pollution. We want to work with the Mayor and others on a new plan that cleans up our air.”