Green Party mayoral candidate Geraldine Coggins has defended a proposed £3 per night visitor levy, arguing the charge 'is not going to make any difference to people who are booking a trip here' while raising £20 million annually to fund free bus travel for all under-22s in Greater Manchester.
The policy was unveiled on July 9 as part of the Green Party's manifesto for the 2026 by-election to replace outgoing Labour mayor Andy Burnham. The winner will serve until 2028. The manifesto also promises 20,000 'genuinely affordable and publicly owned' homes over a decade, £5 million extra for violence reduction, £10 million to tackle empty shops, an orbital bus route, and free buses for under-22s, including the region's 100,000 students.
Visitor Levy to Fund Free Bus Travel
Ms Coggins said the levy would follow similar charges in other city regions worldwide. 'It will be £3 a night so it's not going to make any difference to people who are booking a trip here but it's going to make a huge difference to our city region,' she said. 'Those people who come here, they use our transport so this is a way they can chip in as well.'
The free bus policy is explicitly tied to the visitor levy revenue. The charge would be on top of the existing £1 overnight levy already applied in parts of the region.
Housing Plan Puts Price Tag at £2.7bn
Half of the promised 20,000 homes would come from purchasing and refurbishing 10,000 existing properties. Based on an average Greater Manchester house price of around £269,000, buying those homes alone could cost an estimated £2.7 billion, excluding renovation and marketing costs. Ms Coggins refused to provide a total cost for all manifesto pledges but insisted the plan was fully funded.
'The 20,000 homes will be paid for by a mixture of some lending working with local authorities, some selling off of other projects at market rate but crucially this is a self funding policy,' she said. 'What we are doing is creating permanent public assets so these cannot be sold off. They will be bringing revenue for years and years to come.'
She highlighted that 'one in 80 children in Greater Manchester is growing up in temporary accommodation without a safe, secure place to call home.'
Green Leader Sees 'Seismic Victory' Possible
Green Party leader Zack Polanski told the Manchester Evening News at the Niamos Radical Arts and Culture Centre that their support had been underestimated in the Gorton and Denton by-election and that Reform UK 'have thrown in the towel' and 'are now increasingly distracted by an election where their leader is taking on a bin for the summer.'
'All the cards are falling in the right places for the Green Party to have another seismic victory in this election,' he said. 'There's no complacency here whatsoever. Is it probable? That's a question for voters. Is it possible? Absolutely.'
The only published poll in the race shows a tight contest between Labour and Reform, but the Greens point to their recent by-election win in Gorton and Denton and strong local election results as evidence of momentum.
Clean Air Zone Not a Priority
Despite promising to create the 'greenest region in the country,' both Ms Coggins and Mr Polanski indicated that reintroducing a Clean Air Zone charging scheme would not be a priority. Labour scrapped a charging plan in 2022 in favour of an investment-led approach.
Ms Coggins said Labour's past proposals 'did not work because it put too much of a burden on small businesses and those who needed it.' She argued fossil fuel companies and car manufacturers should pay instead. The Greens would instead tackle air quality through transport policies to reduce 'the school run chaos,' active travel infrastructure, and tree planting.
Mr Polanski added: 'We know areas of Manchester have toxic air and we know toxic air is causing tens of thousands of premature deaths every year so we do need to reduce the toxicity in the air. I think even more pressing immediately is road safety.'
Critique of Labour's Record
Mr Polanski criticised outgoing mayor Andy Burnham's record, saying: 'I think our expectations have been lowered and actually we should be demanding so much more. The fact there are so many families living in temporary accommodation, there are people struggling to put food on the table and heat their homes.'
He argued Labour's 'real priority has been about big money into Greater Manchester and the real priority should be people and it should be the environment.' He described the Green manifesto as 'a bold vision, a hopeful vision, and I think that's something anyone can get behind.'
