Clean Bus Technology Fund: 14 councils to share £25m

The government has announced details of a further 14 local authorities which will share over £25m of funding from the Clean Bus Technology Fund to help retrofit their region’s bus fleets.

Launched in 2017, the fund looks to support projects to upgrade buses with technology to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions in areas with poor air quality. In total, 1817 buses are expected to be retrofitted in the following regions:

Newcastle (£379,600), Leicester (£983,250), London (£983,250), Bristol (£983,250), Gateshead (£230,750), Manchester (£2,994,000), West Midlands (£2,987,750), Coventry (£2,517,500) , Oxford (£671,550), West Yorkshire (£2,975,875), South Tyneside (£133,952), Liverpool (£2,520,643), Sheffield (£3,000,000) and Essex (£387,064).

The announcement follows last year’s £40m grant to 20 local authorities, which allowed councils to work with bus companies and technology providers to bring buses up to low emission standards.

Environment Minister Thérèse 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 the 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 Government has placed legal duties on 61 local authorities to tackle their nitrogen dioxide exceedances.