Councils across the country will benefit from £40m funding as part of a Government drive to retrofit 2,768 buses, to bring them up to low emission standards.
Funding will be awarded to 20 local authorities as part of the Clean Bus Technology Fund, which was launched in 2017 and is run by the Joint Air Quality Unit.
The local authorities are:
- West Yorkshire Combined Authority
- Bristol City Council
- Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council
- Leeds City Council
- Transport for West Midlands
- Leicester City Council
- Oxford City Council
- Coventry City Council
- Nottinghamshire County Council
- Transport for Greater Manchester
- North Tyneside Council
- Nottingham City Council
- Transport for London
- Sheffield City Council
- Sefton Council
- Southampton City Council
- Derby City Council
- Essex County Council
- South Tyneside Council
- Newcastle City Council.
Speaking at the UK Bus Summit at London’s QEII Centre today (Thursday 8 February) Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani set out how the money will enable older vehicles to meet minimum emissions standards, and contribute to better air quality.
A further £49m will be used to fund the next round of the Low Emission Bus Scheme.
By 15 September 2018, five local authorities are required to set out their final plans for bringing NO2 concentrations within legal limits in the shortest possible time.
A further 23 local authorities are required to set out their initial plans by the end of March, with final plans by the end of the year.
Details revealed at UK Bus Summit
Speaking at the UK Bus Summit, Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani said: “Road transport is going to change dramatically over the next couple of decades – and we have to make sure that the bus industry is ready to benefit from those changes.
“We have to move away from nose-to-tail car traffic at peak times, endless engine idling, stop-start travel and rising pollution and carbon emissions. Rather than contributing to the problem – buses and coaches very much form part of the solution.”
The money will allow councils to retrofit vehicles with technology to reduce tailpipe emissions of nitrogen dioxide, as part of a drive to help ensure that more buses and coaches can contribute to improving air quality in UK cities.
A low emission bus (LEB) operates using efficient Scroll technology or alternative fuels rather than just a diesel engine. They are defined by the UK Government as producing 15% less Well-to-Wheel (WTW) emissions compared with an equivalent Euro 5 standard diesel bus.
Environment Minister Therese Coffey said: “I am delighted to see so many high quality applications to the Clean Bus Technology Fund and, as a result, the government has decided to bring forward funding meaning that we will award nearly £40m to retrofit more than 2,700 buses.
“This is another way which the government is delivering on its commitment to improving the environment within a generation and leave it in a better state than we found it.”
Bus Services Act to ‘encourage growth’
Alongside this, the Department for Transport will use the Bus Services Act as a way of encouraging councils and bus companies to look at measures to encourage the public to use buses.
In 2016, Government invested £30m through the Low Emission Bus Scheme, which helped put over 300 new low emission buses on the roads, with a further £11m and 150 buses being announced in 2017.
In addition, its 25 Year Environment Plan sets out how it “will be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than we found it.”
Through this plan it will “build on our reputation as a global leader in environmental protection, creating an environment everyone can enjoy and helping the next generation flourish.”
Funding and timescales
In November 2016 the Department for Transport announced a further £100m to support low emission buses.
Of this, £40m was put towards the Clean Bus Technology Fund, and £60m was dedicated to new low emission buses.
From the £60m, £11m was used to fund the best of the bids which had initially narrowly missed out on funding from LEBS, supporting the purchase of a further 150 low emission buses. The remaining £49m will be used to fund the next round of the Low Emission Bus Scheme.
In August 2017, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership launched the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme, with government funding support. www.lowcvp.org.uk/news,solving-the-clean-air-zone-conundrum-clean-vehicle-retrofit-scheme-provides-key-component-of-defras-aq-plan_3674.htm
Funding announcment at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-funding-boost-for-bus-industry-in-drive-to-improve-air-quality
