A plan to clean up air pollution in Greater Manchester by tackling nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions has been delayed.
The Clean Air Zone (CAZ), which would have seen some motorists charged up to £60 a day, was due to begin in May. Private car drivers would be exempt under the scheme.
Regional mayor Andy Burnham asked the UK government to pause the rollout amid pandemic-fuelled shortages of low-emission electric and hybrid vehicles.
In a statement on Friday, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) said Environment Secretary George Eustice had granted a "short delay" to the scheme.
A revised plan to tackle NO2 emissions in Greater Manchester is now due by July.
The government said legal levels of the gas must be achieved no later than 2026 – two years after the original deadline of 2024.
Roadside signs have already gone up across the region warning the CAZ is to begin on May 30.
At a press conference, Mr Burnham told reporters the 2024 target could not be hit due to the pandemic.
He said: "The vehicles just simply aren't available to get the change in that time frame.
"So the risk with that situation is people can't get the vehicle so even if they want to change and do the right thing they can't. So then they're just left hit with the charge."
The CAZ would have charged vehicles between £7.50 and £60 per day.
Mr Burnham said that though the target of 2024 to hit clean air targets was "unworkable", his office and the 10 other local councils in the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) would now look again at their own scheme and come back to the government with another plan later in the year.
He warned the issue had not "gone away", adding: "There will be a clean air zone in Greater Manchester."
Each year in Greater Manchester more than 1,000 deaths have air pollution as a contributory cause.
A joint statement from Mr Burnham, Defra Minister Jo Churchill and councillor Andrew Western, GMCA portfolio lead for clean air, said: "Air quality is one of our biggest health challenges and we are all completely committed to tackling it.
"We have agreed to a short time-limited pause.
"We will work together to deliver, by the middle of the year, a plan for clean air for Greater Manchester, one that is fair to the businesses and residents of the city-region.
"We will deliver improved air quality as soon as possible, not losing ambition but ensuring we take into account the pandemic, global supply chain challenges, improvements already baked into retrofits and the scope as previously laid out.
"We will now work jointly to meet the Greater Manchester and Government requirements on clean air, as soon as possible, and no later than 2026."
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