Commitment to no new fossil fuel cars and vans from 2040 is maintained, and £100m of clean bus and retrofit funding announced, but there is criticism of the air quality timescale
The Government has released its plan for tackling roadside Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) concentrations and confirmed that the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will cease in 2040.
To address NO2 concentrations, the Government announced three new steps to assist Local Authorities (LAs). It said that NO2 is focussed in particular places and intervention therefore needs to be targeted.
The solutions are:
- A £255m Implementation Fund, available to support local authorities to prepare their plans and deliver targeted action to improve air quality. This funding will support the immediate work to conduct feasibility studies and develop and deliver local plans. £40m will be made available immediately to support LAs to take action to improve air quality in the shortest time possible.
- Establishing a Clean Air Fund, which will allow LAs to bid for additional money to support the implementation of measures to improve air quality. This could include interventions such as improvements to local bus fleets, support for concessionary travel and more sustainable modes of transport such as cycling, or infrastructure changes.
- A £100m fund for retrofitting and new low emission buses. This national programme of support for low emission buses in England and Wales expects to include hundreds of new low emission buses and retrofitting of thousands of older buses.
Several industry bodies have responded to the announcement.
A CPT spokesman said: “CPT and its members will study the details of the Government’s plan for reducing roadside NO2 concentrations and look forward to working with DEFRA, DfT and local authorities to ensure that the benefits of bus and coach travel are recognised as being a solution to improving air quality, not simply one of the causes.
“In recent years, operators and their passengers have made substantial investments in newer, cleaner fleets and the vehicles on the road are now more environmentally friendly than they have ever been. High quality, reliable bus and coach services encourage modal shift and where operators have worked with local authorities to introduce priority measures, services are able to operate smoothly and efficiently, delivering the best passenger experience and real improvements to the local environment.
“We are therefore pleased to see that the Government has taken on board representations made by CPT and that as a result the plan recognises the contribution bus and coach travel makes in helping reduce emissions.”
Claire Haigh, Chief Executive of Greener Journeys, said: “Government intervention to tackle the appalling air quality in our towns and cities is long overdue, but this plan stops short of meaningful action that will immediately address this public health crisis. We can’t afford to kick the can down the road to 2040 – there are already 38 local authorities where people are breathing air which exceeds legal NOx limits.
“The commitment to bus retrofitting is encouraging, with recent Greener Journeys research showing that retrofitting is 15 times more cost-effective per kilogram of NOx saved than a car diesel scrappage scheme. However, unless we tackle congestion, this won’t solve the air pollution crisis.
“Penalty charges are the only effective way of keeping drivers away from city centres and encouraging them to switch to more sustainable alternatives such as bus, bike or train.”
Bridget Fox, Sustainable Transport Campaigner, Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Banning new fossil fuel cars from 2040 is an important and welcome step towards clean air and reduced carbon emissions, but 23 years is far too long to live with illegal pollution.
“Rather than yet more feasibility studies we urgently need practical measures that will deliver cleaner air from day one. That means giving local authorities the power to introduce charging zones and to ban the most polluting vehicles from pollution hotspots.
“Spending £100m on bus retrofitting is welcome, as is potential new funding for walking and cycling, in contrast with the backwards step on rail electrification, but this is a drop in the ocean compared with the £23bn the Government is spending on building roads.
“It is disappointing to see there are no immediate plans to introduce a scrappage scheme to get high polluting diesels off the road.”
RMT General Secretary, Mick Cash, said: “Today’s announcement on emissions from the Government exposes the rank hypocrisy of their decision to shelve long-planned rail electrification works.
“Puffed up news announcements about plans that are a generation away will not mask the reality of scrapped modernisation programmes on our railways in the here and now.”
