Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts
Thursday 5th November 2015

(8 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Elizabeth Truss Portrait Elizabeth Truss
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We are planting 22 million trees over the period 2010 to 2020. In the natural capital work that we are doing at the moment, we are looking at the value of trees in the natural environment and the contribution they can make to the economy, through the timber industry, and to things like flood defences. I am sure that that means there will be more in future as well.

Ben Howlett Portrait Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)
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T10. Bath residents will welcome the consultations in the Department on air quality, given the high levels of air pollution in the city, as the Secretary of State will know from her visit earlier this year. Will she confirm that this will help cities such as Bath to introduce low-emission zones?

Elizabeth Truss Portrait Elizabeth Truss
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I remember standing with my hon. Friend by the roadside in Bath and breathing in the fumes. The clean air zones that we are introducing provide, for the first time, a national framework that local authorities can adopt and put in place in their area to address air quality issues, so I hope that Bath is looking at that.