BUSES operating in the region are to be refitted with green technology in a bid to improve air quality.

Nearly 450 buses in England - including 34 in Gateshead and Sunderland and 121 in Yorkshire - will be upgraded after 18 local authorities made successful bids for around £7m of funding to carry out the work, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced.

The buses upgraded in Gateshead and Sunderland are expected to complete 150,000 journeys a year while the 120 operating in York, Harrogate, Leeds, Sheffield and West Yorkshire will complete 420,000 greener journeys.

The buses will be fitted with exhaust gas treatment systems called selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to cut nitrogen oxide emissions under the Clean Bus Technology Fund.

As part of the award, councils must continue to monitor the schemes and provide evidence of their effectiveness.

Transport Minister Andrew Jones said: "Greener buses mean cleaner town and city centres and a healthier environment for everyone.

"The upgraded buses that will soon hit the roads in England continue our commitment to better air quality by investing in greener transport."

The Government published its air quality plan in December which focuses on bringing in clean air zones in five English cities by 2020.

The zones will use charging to discourage the most polluting vehicles, including old diesel buses, taxis, coaches and lorries, from entering the city centres of Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton.

But they will not affect private cars, which environmental group ClientEarth said are one of the biggest sources of poor air quality in cities.

London is also set to bring in an ultra low emissions zone in 2020, which will apply to all vehicles.

Ministers were ordered by the Supreme Court last year to produce plans to comply with European Union law on limits for nitrogen dioxide in the air.