Ruth Cadbury Condemns Government's Air Quality Plan

Says it is wholly inadequate to deal with local air pollution

Brentford & Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury has condemned the Government’s Air Quality plan released this week as being wholly inadequate to deal with the scale of air pollution locally.

“Living between central London and Heathrow, our roads are massively congested making this area one of the most polluted parts of the UK" she said.

Ruth Cadbury

The government report on air quality was published by Michael Gove, the environment secretary, this week, after a court ruled last year that the government must improve on previous proposals.

It includes a ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2040 but the government has not made “clean air zones” mandatory and has only introduce a targeted scrappage scheme with a limited number of vehicles covered.

Ms Cadbury said, "This plan does nothing to address the problem now, particularly as there is no mention of Heathrow’s expansion plans.”

She added, “ I had expected the Government to take serious steps to address air pollution. They’ve had two failed plans, and this one is no better. Ending the manufacture of new diesel and petrol vehicles in 23 years’ time shows the Government’s lack of urgency on what has become a health emergency.”

Labour have promised to deliver a national diesel scrappage scheme and a clean air act that would ensure all polluted cities were required to have legally binding clean air zones.

July 27, 2017