Air Pollution

Baroness Blackstone Excerpts

Monday 8th April 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Lord makes a very important point: we have already been able to tackle the biggest sources of industrial pollution, and now we are coming on to the more difficult areas. For example, Aviation 2050, which has been published, looks at aeroplanes and what they can do up to 2050; Maritime 2050 is out for consultation, and it will be published shortly. I am not sure whether Maritime 2050 includes houseboats, but I will certainly find out for the noble Lord. There is also rail: what are we doing about our trains, some of which currently run on diesel? This will be published soon. We will be rolling that out by 2040.

[Baroness Blackstone (Ind Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chair of the British Lung Foundation. Given that last year’s WHO figures showed that 49 UK towns and cities failed to meet international standards on air pollution, will the Government work with local authorities to implement a network of charging clean air zones in all those towns and cities that have high levels of air pollution?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

I thank the noble Baroness for raising that, because it is exactly what the Government are doing. The roadside nitrogen dioxide plan basically directs all local authorities to come up with a plan to reduce air pollution in their area. Clean air zones are very much supported. Noble Lords will know that Leeds will have the first one, which will start in January 2020. It will be the first authority, but many others will follow suit. Other places, such as Nottingham, have decided to go a different route by retrofitting their buses. The point we have to understand in all of this is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each city, area and local authority needs to come up with a good plan that the Government will stamp and approve to reduce roadside nitrogen dioxide.