Purpose

To request approval of an adjustment to the implementation date
due to Government funding not being approved to support all vehicle
upgrades.

Content

The Cabinet considered a report of the
Director of Public Health and Communities, which sought agreement
to delay the implementation date of the Private Hire and Hackney
Emissions Standards approved in November 2024.
 
The Head of Public Protection was in
attendance to present the information and to address the questions
and the comments of the Cabinet Members.
 
The Officers outlined the proposals to
amend the private hire and hackney emissions standard
implementation date that had been approved by Cabinet on 26th
November 2024. The rationale for this related to the recent
agreement between the 10 Greater Manchester Authorities, Greater
Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester
to require all fleet to be emission standard compliant by 31st
August 2030.
 
The previous report that had been
approved by Cabinet in November 2024 (Appendix 1 to the report)
specified an implementation date of 31 December 2025, subject to
the funding request from Government being approved. A significantly
reduced amount of funding had been granted and had been ring-fenced
for Hackney vehicle upgrades only.
 
The Officer continued informing that
Cabinet approval was required to amend the implementation date to
31 August 2030, whereby all licensed hackneys and Private Hire
Vehicles had to be a minimum of Euro 6 (diesel) or Euro 4 (petrol).
Euro 6 (diesel) applied to all diesel vehicles registered on or
after 1 September 2015. Euro 4 (petrol) applies to all petrol
vehicles registered on or after 1 January 2006.
This would then align with and support
the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan which was proposed to be an
investment led plan aiming to have 100% of its taxi and private
hire fleet licensed to a Greater Manchester Council compliant with
the emissions standard.
 
Cabinet Members raised concerns
regarding the current non-compliant vehicles and the limited
funding allocation for Greater Manchester. Clarification was sought
on the process for determining allocations to individual local
authorities, with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)
responsible for assessing distribution. The issue of professional
standards among public hire taxi drivers was discussed, with
emphasis on the importance of dress code and first impressions; it
was proposed that a formal code of conduct be considered. It was
acknowledged that this matter had yet to be addressed, but feedback
was being collected as part of both national and Greater
Manchester-wide reviews. Assurance was given that funding decisions
would be made fairly and that no group of drivers would be
marginalised. Additionally, concerns were expressed about
individuals from outside the borough obtaining licences within
Greater Manchester. The GM Mayor was actively working with the
Combined Authority to address this through legislative measures,
particularly in relation to safeguarding, with efforts being
coordinated through licensing managers.
 
Resolved that the amendment of
the implementation date from 31 December 2025 to 30th August 2030
in the Private Hire & Hackney Vehicle Standards be
approved.
 
Reason for decision:
The Government had instructed many
local authorities across the UK to take quick action to reduce
harmful roadside levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) with the
Secretary of State (SoS) for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
issuing Directions under the Environment Act 1995 in 2017,
requiring them to undertake feasibility studies to identify
measures for reducing NO2 concentrations to within legal limit
values in the “shortest possible time”.
 
In Greater Manchester, the 10 local
authorities, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority
(GMCA) and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)
were working together to develop a Greater Manchester Clean Air
Plan (GM CAP) to tackle NO2 exceedances at the roadside.
 
The ‘Case for a new Greater
Manchester Clean Air Plan’ proposed using Clean Air funding
that the Government had awarded to the GM authorities to deliver an
investment-led approach to invest in vehicle upgrades, rather than
imposing daily charges, and deliver new Zero Emission Buses (ZEBs)
as part of the Bee Network.
 
In October 2024, the final CAP
submission had been made by GM to Government, and this had been
accepted in January 2025. However, the Government had not agreed
that all grant funding requested was required to support the taxi
and private hire vehicle owner to transition to emissions compliant
vehicles. It did not consider that the evidence supported
£30.5m requested. It was considered that only the Hackney
trade required support to upgrade its fleet and £8m had been
provided.
 
The appraisal of the Investment-led
Plan had been developed on the basis that an emissions standard,
requiring all licensed hackneys and Private Hire Vehicles to be a
minimum of Euro 6 (diesel) or Euro 4 (petrol), would have been
adopted by all GM Authorities. Euro 6 (diesel) applied to all
diesel vehicles registered on or after 1 September 2015. Euro 4
(petrol) applied to all petrol vehicles registered on or after 1
January 2006.
 
This meant that all vehicles licensed
by Rochdale Borough Council would have to have a compliant vehicle
attached to the licence by 31 August 2030. The original proposal
for implementation of an emissions standard was 31 December 2025 as
it was anticipated that the Government would provide funding to
enable drivers to upgrade their vehicle. £30.5m was proposed
for a Clean Taxi Fund, to support vehicle upgrades. The Government
agreed to award £8m for hackney vehicle upgrades.
 
Work was being undertaken to consider
how best to distribute the funding and consultations
and a taxi review was currently taking place which Transport for
Greater Manchester were leading on. Options to support the upgrade
of non-compliant private hire vehicles was also being explored.
On the basis that the funding received
was not as anticipated, it had been agreed by the 10 GM Local
Authorities, TfGM and GMCA that the implementation date would be
revised and a new date of 31 August 2030 would be
taken through governance by Local Authorities that did not have a
vehicle age policy.
 
From 31st August 2030, all licensed
vehicles would have to meet these emissions standards for
consideration to be given for the vehicle to become licensed.
 
At the time of writing this report
Rochdale has 345 of 1852 licensed vehicles that are non-compliant
with the Euro 6 (diesel) and Euro 4 (petrol). This equated to
approximately 18% of the total fleet with non-compliant vehicles.
This had reduced naturally from 26% when the previous report had
been approved in November 2025.
 
Consultation had been previously
undertaken with the trade when Minimum Licensing Standards had been
considered and the implementation of an
‘emissions standard’ had been included in the previous
proposal. The consultation had not received any comments objecting
to an ‘emissions standard’. Objections had primarily
related to the previously proposed ‘age policy’, it was
therefore anticipated that the trade would welcome an emissions
standard, particularly as it was linked to having access to funding
to support vehicle upgrades.
 
This proposal enabled emissions
standards to be met by 100% of our taxi and private hire fleet,
aligned with the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan and enabled
driver’s significant time to upgrade non-compliant vehicles
by 31 August 2030.
 
Alternatives considered and
rejected:
The proposals were to enable Greater
Manchester to comply with a Government Direction. There were no
alternatives as Rochdale was one of two Greater Manchester local
authorities without an emissions standard linked to vehicle
licensing conditions. Our trade would be significantly
disadvantaged if we did not adopt the approach that aligned with
the Clean Air Investment Led Plan.