<p>Air Pollution</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:30 pm on 16 May 2017.

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Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 1:30, 16 May 2017

Thank you, First Minister. We know that air pollution kills more people than are killed in road traffic accidents, and even the UK Government admits it’s the largest environmental threat to public health in the UK. A cross-party group in the House of Commons called it a public health emergency. These air quality management areas include an area of Newport Road, where I’ve got no less than three primary schools running along it, and they are breathing in toxic levels of air at the moment. The latest plan by the Tories that was published earlier this month is no more than an options paper. There is nothing in it that even approaches a strategy. One of the options is to have clean air zones where polluting vehicles have to pay to enter them. Obviously, this would be the thing that would make the biggest impact on cutting pollution, but the Tories have passed the buck to local authorities, with shackles on. They’re not allowed to do anything along these lines until, for example, all buses have been converted from diesel to cleaner energy. I just wondered—