Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The fuel lowdown on diesel car ban
As Government announces strict anti-pollution measures
NEWS that diesel cars could be banned from busy roads during rush-hour in a crackdown on the most polluting vehicles has left many motorists reeling.
A clean air strategy published by the Government yesterday gives councils eight months to draw up plans for cutting harmful gases on their most polluted streets.
The move will let town halls introduce road charging or ban heavily polluting vehicles on the worst-hit roads at busy times of the day. Road tax could also be hiked for new diesel vehicles in measures to be announced in the Budget this autumn.
And new traditional petrol and diesel cars will be banned from sale altogether by 2040 as hybrid and full-electric become the norm.
But campaigners accused Ministers of “passing the buck” to town halls in the present by announcing policies looking decades into the future.
Oliver Hayes of Friends of the Earth said: “This is a cynical move to grab the headlines by announcing changes for 23 years’ time and failing to enact measures which will curb pollution now. “
The chair of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee, Labour MP Mary Creagh, added: “Air pollution causes 40,000 early deaths every year but today’s plan shows the Government kicking the can down the road once more.”
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said air pollution is a “local” problem and it is right to expect town halls to find a local solution.
He said: “Today’s plan sets out how we will work with authorities to tackle the effects of roadside pollution caused by dirty diesels, in particular nitrogen dioxide.”
But what will it all mean? Here is our lowdown…
Given the 40,000 deaths thought to be linked to air pollution per year, the High Court told Ministers to take action as current efforts do not meet the legal requirement to keep people safe. exceed the legal NO2 limit. Different things in different areas. Councils are being told to come up with “imaginative” ways to cut air pollution. In some areas road layouts could be changed to avoid congestion pinch points.
Speed bumps could be torn up and traffic lights rewired. Drivers will be encouraged to switch to low-emission vehicles or use public transport. And buses will be upgraded or replaced with lower-emission models. a last resort. But it means owners of older diesel and petrol cars could find they cars are banned from or charged for using local main roads during busy periods.
London is leading the charge. Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a new £10-a-day “toxicity charge” covering Central London from this October. He says the “vast majority” of vehicles built before 2006 will be hit by the charge.
So-called Clean Air Zones are also planned for Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton. Ministers say 100 major roads in towns and cities across Britain are likely to still be missing key pollution targets by 2021 and will need radical action. further Clean Air Fund will be set up for councils to bid for extra cash. And a £100million pot has been set aside to make buses more environmentally friendly. Partly because they probably won’t be in power to have to deliver them. Mr Gove will be 72. Theresa May will be 83. But the idea is also to provide “certainty” for industry about Britain’s long-term plan to improve the environment. No. Just 1.8% of cars sold in Britain are electric. And it will mean a huge new strain on the National Grid. Experts say the extra electricity needed will be the equivalent of almost 10 times the total power output of the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station being built in Somerset.
But eco-campaigners predict technological advancement means all cars will be partly or fully electric by 2050, law changes aside.