Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what new powers he plans to afford to local authorities under changes to the local air quality management framework in the Environment Bill.

Local authorities already have a number of powers available to them to tackle air pollution – for example powers to tackle idling and smoke emissions from domestic chimneys.

The Environment Bill will improve the local air quality management framework to enable greater local action on air pollution by ensuring that responsibility for addressing air pollution is shared across a wider range of partners. We are amending the Local Air Quality Management Framework so that it brings in neighbouring authorities and where relevant, the Environment Agency, and can be extended to include additional relevant public authorities.

Through the Environment Bill we are also making it easier for local authorities to use their existing powers to tackle a major contributor to fine particulate matter emissions – domestic solid fuel burning, and are expanding the scope of the power for local authorities to enable them to tackle smoke emissions from vessels within a smoke control area.