Shire Leasing to provide vehicle finance for Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Zone Financial Support Scheme

Shire Leasing has been appointed as a funder to deliver vehicle financing for Greater Manchester’s Clean Air Financial Support Scheme (FSS). The company will work with accredited vehicle dealers and applicants with a funding award to deliver a simple, fast and efficient application process, helping them to upgrade non-compliant vehicles to lower emission vehicles ahead of the charging Clean Air Zone being introduced in Spring 2022.

All ten local authorities within Greater Manchester have worked together to develop a Clean Air Plan including a Clean Air Zone, which will be one of the largest in Europe. It will launch on 30 May 2022 for buses, HGVs and out of area hackney and private hire vehicles (PHVs) and in June 2023 for light goods vehicles, Greater Manchester registered taxis, PHVs, minibuses and coaches.

Greater Manchester has secured more than £120m government funding to help local businesses upgrade vehicles. Funding will be distributed through the FSS which will offer eligible owners of a non-compliant vehicle the option of either a lump sum grant, subsidised finance or a combination of the two to support upgrading to a compliant vehicle and ultimately avoid paying daily charges.

Drivers can answer a series of simple questions at www.cleanairgm.com/prepare to find out whether they will need to pay a charge to drive in the Zone, if they might be eligible for an exemption or funding support, and further vehicle-specific information regarding their options and timescales.

Accelerated processes

Applications for the FSS will open on 30 November 2021 for applications from eligible HGV owners, with applications for other vehicle owners due to open at the end of January 2022. Shire Leasing is already in conversation with vehicle dealers based within Greater Manchester to introduce sale processes that will accelerate the administration of payments to dealers and allow applicant customers to complete their vehicle upgrades quickly and efficiently.

Julie Henehan, corporate development director at Shire Leasing, said: “No single person, business or city can tackle air pollution alone. We’re always looking to build relationships and collaborate with those who share the same vision as Shire and the Greater Manchester Clean Air Plan has created a network that aligns with shared goals, supporting local businesses and improving air quality.

“We’re proud to be appointed on this FSS and look forward to a bright future working alongside Greater Manchester, our accredited vehicle dealers and Greater Manchester’s local businesses as we all come together to improve air quality, making Greater Manchester an even better place to live, work and visit.”

Shire Leasing is a business-to-business funder based in the Midlands that currently provides finance solutions to over 66,000 SMEs across the UK, including over 800 customers based within Greater Manchester.

The company’s successful bid to Greater Manchester follows on from its experience of delivering a similar scheme for Bath and North East Somerset Council, which saw it finance the scheme’s very first vehicle in January 2020 and subsequently hundreds of businesses upgrade to low/no emission vehicles.