Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:50 pm on 7 March 2017.
It is for local authorities to review local air quality. We do assist them in terms of doing that. We are considering responses to the recent consultation that was held on this subject. It did recognise the immediate and long-term health benefits to be gained by reducing pollution exposure across Wales. One area, of course, that has a beneficial effect on air quality is to encourage more people onto public transport, which is why of course we passed the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013, in order for that to happen. We do need to see, of course, more investment in public transport in Wales. We’re doing our bit with the metro, and we do need to make sure now that we see electrification take place to Swansea, as was promised by the UK Government, in order to encourage more people onto the trains and out of cars. But the more we can reduce car use and provide an alternative to car use, the better it will be for air quality.