DEFRA cuts air quality grant budget

The £2m budget for 2019/20 is £1m less than the previous round, though more than the budgets has been provided in the past and the £3m provided in 2018/19 was a record. It has paid out a total of £61m since being introduced.

The fund is available for activities within council-declared air quality management areas and areas identified as breaching air quality limits by DEFRA, the latter generally setting up clean air zones. However, DEFRA has already provided £255m for clean air zones, on top of £220m to mitigate their economic impacts.