Diesel drivers to get scrappage cash (but many will miss out)

DRIVERS of some ageing diesel cars are to be offered scrappage payments to encourage them to buy cleaner models, under plans to curb air pollution.

theresa May has ordered ministers to draw up a targeted scrappage scheme to ease the pain of a crackdown on diesel cars that could see some motorists charged to drive into areas hit by pollution.

Details of the package are still being finalised ahead of the publication of the Government’s new clean air strategy next week.

But Government insiders confirmed that the idea of a scrappage scheme has been ‘agreed in principle’ to encourage drivers of the most polluting vehicles to swap them for models with cleaner engines.

the plan could see some drivers offered up to £2,000 to scrap their cars, with half of the money coming from the Government and matching cash from car manufacturers.

But the scheme is likely to be tightly targeted in order to control costs, meaning that many will miss out.

Officials at the environment Department, the Department for transport and the treasury are calculating the costs before ministers make a final decision on the scale of the scheme later this week.

A previous scrappage scheme in 2009 offered motorists cash payments of £1,000 to trade in their old bangers.

the money was topped up by matching payments of £1,000 from the car industry and led to the removal of almost 400,000 of the most polluting vehicles at a cost to the taxpayer of £400million. Options this time include restricting payments to those on low incomes, or limiting them to motorists living in the postcodes suffering the worst air pollution.

neil Parish, tory chairman of the Commons environment committee, said ministers were right to limit the scheme to prevent it becoming a ‘middle- class subsidy’ for those who could already afford to upgrade to a new car. But he said even a targeted scheme could remove half of older diesels from the roads in areas worst affected by pollution.

‘I know there are concerns about the costs of any scheme,’ he added. ‘that’s why any proposed scheme should be targeted and proportionate. It should be a key weapon in the armoury of the Government in tackling air pollution.’

fellow tory MP Charlie elphicke said a scrappage scheme was ‘the best way to get the oldest and dirtiest diesels off the roads’.

But he warned that it would still be ‘unfair’ to hammer motorists with new taxes, and urged ministers to focus on curbing other sources of toxic nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions, such as planes, trains, buses and building site machinery. Backing for some form of scrappage scheme comes amid mounting concern in Downing Street about the potential for the new clean air strategy to spark a backlash among the millions of motorists who were encouraged to buy diesel cars by the last labour government.

earlier this month, the Prime Minister made it clear the plans should not punish those who had acted in good faith, saying: ‘I’m very conscious of the fact that past governments have encouraged people to buy diesel cars and we need to take that into account when we’re looking at what we do in the future.’

Ministers were forced to act after the High Court threw out their clean air strategy last year and ordered the Government to come up with new proposals to tackle breaches of legal air quality limits ‘in the shortest possible time’.

Government insiders insist it is impossible to meet the court’s demands without taking action on diesel vehicles.

But in many towns and cities the air pollution problem is highly localised, with illegal levels recorded only in a small number of congested streets.

‘A key weapon in tackling pollution’