Plan to pay drivers in pollution blackspots to scrap diesel cars
DIESEL drivers in Britain’s most polluted areas could be offered money to scrap their cars under new plans being considered by ministers.
The “postcode” scrappage scheme could be included in a Government pollution plan aimed at improving poor air quality in towns and cities.
Ministers hope the scheme will persuade people to give up diesel cars which emit nitrogen oxides – gases that contribute to health problems such as asthma.
Chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Neil Parish will tell ministers this week that diesel drivers could qualify for a cash grant if their car was registered before 2005 and is registered in a “hotspot” where air pollution is already at dangerous levels.
He believes such a scheme could remove up to half of the country’s 5.6 million “dirtiest diesels” from Britain’s roads.
The Conservative MP is expected to say: “Limiting the scheme to pollution hotspots could potentially take as many as half of the dirtiest diesels out of these areas.”
Ministers hope a postcode scrappage scheme will be cheaper than a scheme open to all diesel owners which has previously been opposed on cost grounds.
MPs will urge ministers to commit to a more targeted scheme during a Commons debate on Wednesday.
Progressive
Mr Parish will say: “I know there are concerns about the costs. That’s why any proposed scheme should be targeted and proportionate.”
Scrappage schemes proved popular in the have past, with seven in 10 AA members supporting the approach.
A 2009/10 scheme to boost sales allowed a vehicle to be scrapped for £2,000 off the cost of a new car – £1,000 coming from the Government and the rest from the manufacturer.
Mr Parish will propose that the scheme follows the same rules, saying a £500million Government spend would remove one in 10 of the worst diesels.
Some environmental campaigners welcomed the plan.
Anna Jones, head of Greenpeace’s clean air campaign, said: “A really progressive scrappage scheme will help kickstart the shift to electric vehicles, as well encourage a shift to car sharing and public transport.”
But Oliver Hayes at Friends of the Earth said the scheme did not go far enough.
He said: “Targeting scrappage schemes at the worst areas overlooks the fact that nine out of 10 air quality zones break legal limits for toxic nitrogen oxide emissions.”
The proposal comes weeks after the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced older polluting cars would pay extra to enter the capital’s central congestion zone from October.