Diesel and petrol car ban: Clean air strategy ‘not enough’
The government’s £3bn clean air strategy does not go “far enough or fast enough”, campaigners have said.
Moves including banning the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2040 and £255m for councils to tackle air pollution locally have been welcomed.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said the government was determined to deliver a “green revolution”.
But environmental groups criticised the decision not to include a scrappage scheme or immediate clean air zones.
The plan to stop all sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040 is part of the government’s intention for almost every car and van on UK roads to be zero emission by 2050.
The government report includes the promise of £40m immediately to start local schemes rolling, which could include changing road layouts, retrofitting public transport or schemes to encourage people to leave their cars at home.
The funding pot will come from changes to tax on diesel vehicles and the reprioritising departmental budgets – the exact details will be announced later in the year.
If those measures do not cut emissions enough, charging zones for the most polluting vehicles could be the next step.
While air pollution has been mostly falling in the UK, in many cities, nitrogen oxides – which form part of the discharge from car exhausts – regularly breach safe levels.
Mr Grayling said the new plan showed the government was “determined to deliver a green revolution in transport and reduce pollution in our towns and cities”.
But campaigners say these are the measures that need to be implemented now to tackle environmental and health problems, with air pollution linked to about 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK.
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