Town hall chief: This is not a congestion charge.

TOWN hall leaders will be keen to stress that any new clean air charge as part of that plan would not amount to a congestion charge via the back door, a concern that has lingered among some people ever since the proposal was blocked in a referendum 10 years ago.

Manchester council leader Sir Richard Lease, who at the time led the campaign for a congestion charge, said: "There's always a danger of comparisons with congestion charging, but the thing with air quality is that the aim is to collect nothing.

"If the aim is to have clean air, the aim is to have all vehicles compliant - so the aim is to collect nothing.

"The point is not to collect money, it's to get clean air."

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Sir Richard Leese