£1.4 million to cut bus pollution

Five local authorities are to receive funding to cut pollution from buses, improving air quality in towns and cities across England. Transport Minister Baroness Kramer has today (28 October 2013) announced additional support under the Clean Bus Technology Fund to cut emissions from 92 local buses.

Baroness Kramer said:

This extra funding means more buses can be cleaned up so that they put out less pollution. Dozens of buses in 5 distinct areas will be improved with the money I am making available today, improving air quality for local communities. It will also boost jobs and growth by helping to stimulate our cutting edge green technology.

I look forward to seeing the results of all the initiatives under the Clean Bus Technology Fund and I hope other local authorities will follow suit.

The 5 local authorities will each receive grants of between £23,700 and £750,000 to retrofit the buses. This new funding comes 2 months after an initial £5 million was awarded to 11 local authorities to reduce harmful emissions from 392 buses followed by a further £1.1 million to 5 authorities to upgrade 45 buses.

Authorities set to benefit are:

• Brighton and Hove City Council: £750,000 for 50 buses
• Sunderland City Council and Durham County Council: £275,500 for 19 buses
• Oxford City Council: £199,995 for 11 buses
• Swale Borough Council: £150,000 for 10 buses
• City of York Council: £23,700 for 2 buses

All of these authorities have proposed to use Selective Catalytic Reduction technology fitted to exhaust systems to reduce pollutants.

London has seen significant reductions in pollution after DfT provided £5 million, match funded by the Mayor, to retrofit exhaust technology to 900 buses.

Today’s (28 October 2013) announcement follows careful assessment of bids after the launch of the Clean Bus Technology Fund in June 2013. Thirty-one local authorities in England (outside of Greater London) bid for grants of up to £1 million to support upgrading buses with pollution-reducing technology on the routes where air quality does not meet European Commission standards.

Reducing pollutant emissions from older buses, in particular oxides of nitrogen (NOx), demonstrates the coalition government’s commitment to improved air quality in our towns and cities and meeting EU air quality standards.

The Clean Bus Technology Fund is in addition to the £12 million funding announced in May this year for 213 new low carbon buses in the latest round of the Green Bus Fund and £2.4 million of additional funding for 55 low carbon buses announced in October.