Yahoo News Controversial Clean Air Zone cameras are being used 'to solve rapes and murders', says Andy Burnham
Andy Burnham has rejected calls to tear down Greater Manchester's 400 Clean Air Zone (CAZ) cameras - even though they're not being used to charge motorists following a backlash - because 'they are being used to solve rapes and murders'.
The Labour politician, who is seeking re-election as Greater Manchester mayor, scrapped the controversial scheme in 2022 following a furious backlash from people, many tradespeople who said a daily charge of £10 to enter the zone in a van would put them out of business.
Today (Thursday) Mr Burnham, at an election hustings hosted by the Manchester Evening News, again promised he would not introduce CAZ charging if re-elected, but rejected calls to pull down the 400-plus ANPR cameras that were erected as part of the scheme because, he revealed, they are 'being used to solve serious crimes'. So far the scheme has cost the tax-payer £100m.
Last year, in a written response to Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the then mayor Mr Burnham revealed that between February and October 2022 alone police made 92 requests for data from the cameras and 53 were said to provide detectives with 'direct hits' of evidence used in five murder cases; six shootings; two stabbings; four fatal road collisions; three high-risk missing cases; four aggravated burglaries; and other cases.
When one of the invited audience members at the M.E.N's mayoral hustings asked about the future of the CAZ scheme, Tory candidate Laura Evans promised to ditch the scheme if elected because 'they drive out business', adding she was 'very delighted' they were never switched on and that 'all that money' should not have been spent on the cameras and signs.
Green candidate Hannah Spencer, a plumber, criticised the 'misinformation' about the project and went on that 'people like [her]' are struggling to understand the current plans.
Lib Dem candidate Jake Austin promised to 'not implement a chargeable Clean Air Zone because I don't think it's fair to expect people who can't rely on public transport infrastructure that we don't currently yet have to be charged'. Reform candidate Dan Baker told the audience the cameras themselves 'have to go', while there was 'the potential' for them to be turned for charging.
He said the £100m spent so far should have been spent elsewhere. "For me they should never have been put up in the first place," he added.
Mr Burnham admitted it had been a 'challenging issue', but he said the government handed a 'legal direction' to the 10 councils of Greater Manchester 'to clean up the air'. He said: "They couldn't do nothing. They had to do something."
He said the aim was to implement the scheme 'in the fairest way possible', but the councils had to go back to government to 'renegotiate' the legal direction to put back the 2024 deadline to improve air quality to 2026 because the existing scheme 'wasn't going to be sustainable'. The delay was to allow 'for the full impact' of the Bee Network and its electric buses on reducing air pollution, he said.
Mr Burnham said he was arguing with government that he doesn't want to charge people and instead use 'incentives' for people to use more modern vehicles. He promised there would be 'no charging' if he was returned as mayor.
He added: "And I wouldn't take [the cameras] down and I'll tell you why, because they are being used to solve serious crimes. Before those cameras went up, Greater Manchester had the worse automatic number plate recognition technology in the country. Those cameras are now being used by Greater Manchester Police and they are being used to solve rapes and murders and other serious crimes."
