Greater Manchester’s abandoned clean air zone has cost taxpayers £104.5 million despite never charging a single driver, officials revealed Thursday as the mayor defended the expenditure following public backlash that shelved the scheme.

Andy Burnham insisted the money “has not gone down the tubes” after plans to impose daily fees on polluting vehicles collapsed in spring 2022, arguing the investment created Britain’s most advanced automatic number plate recognition network and funded cleaner buses. The mayor spoke as new figures showed £375,000 flows out monthly for enforcement cameras alone, with £36.6 million already spent on implementing and operating the dormant zone.

“Some of the money was used to clean up vehicles. Some of the money was used to buy new buses,” Burnham told reporters, noting that £27 million went directly to grants helping drivers switch to cleaner vehicles. Transport for Greater Manchester purchased 815 cameras before the scheme’s pause, later selling 200 back to manufacturer Yunex at full price, while 97 of the 462 installed units have been vandalised and only 360 remain operational.

The government has covered all costs to date for the project, which transformed into an “investment-led approach” approved last month that focuses on boosting public transport ridership rather than charging drivers. Burnham announced he will launch a consultation on granting police real-time access to the camera network, which he said currently helps solve “serious crimes including murders and rapes,” while proposing to repurpose roadside signs to direct motorists toward park-and-ride facilities.

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