6. Debate: Air Quality

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:37 pm on 5 December 2017.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 5:37, 5 December 2017

So, I think, in really taking this seriously, we need to move from a world of plans and a world of ambitions to one of actual statutory delivery and one where we can hold the Government to account. There's no doubt that air pollution is all the environmental problems that have been described, but it's also a real public health problem. It's the second cause of premature death in Wales. It's second only to smoking, which you could say is an air pollution problem of its own, so it's linked. But it's really problematic for children and elderly people with pre-existing chronic illnesses.

It's a social justice issue, and this is something that I think we should take very seriously here. The impact is greatest in the most deprived areas. The richest people in Wales don't live in the areas with air quality problems. They live near open areas with trees and parks and some natural scrubbing, as it were, going on. The 10 per cent most deprived areas, for example, have five times higher levels of carcinogenic air pollution. It's a very clear public health and social justice issue. If we look at those towns and cities, and, famously, Hafod-yr-Ynys Road in Crumlin in Caerphilly, which is one of the UK's most polluted roads, let alone Wales, we see very clearly the association of air quality problems with deprived communities and with communities that are struggling economically as well. So, people are not able to move out of those communities and make their own choices.

I think, in dealing with this, we don't only want to hear what the Minister set out; we want to hear more about what actual targets will be set and what statutory monitoring will be done. I was glad that the Minister mentioned trees and shrubs, but I think we need to hear a little bit more about a specific plan to plant trees—the right kind of trees, because it does actually depend which kind of trees you plant in which areas, as I understand it—to ensure that we have a natural way of trying to clean up our air. But we also need to have a greater emphasis, yes, on the problems created by the transport infrastructure we have, but on the opportunities, as well, to decarbonise that in the most simple way possible, which is to make it easier to walk and cycle—just to make it easier to get around.

Sustrans—[Interruption.] I heard a 'Hear, hear' from a previous Sustrans person there, I think. Sustrans, only in the last couple of weeks, did an examination of the walking and cycling plans for England and Scotland—I couldn't find the one for Wales; I don't know if they did it for Wales or not, but they certainly did it for England and Scotland—that said just if the plans were implemented, not asking for more than the two Governments have said they're going to do anyway, it would reduce deaths from air pollution by more than 13,000 in those two countries over the next 10 years and would save nearly £10 billion. So, we really need to integrate air pollution measures—and clean air measures, to be more positive—into the way we structure our transport system, into the way we build our schools, and where we build our schools. We need, as a temporary measure, certainly, to have a statutory responsibility to monitor air quality outside our schools, because children exposed to severe air pollution are five times more likely to have poor lung development and increased susceptibility to infection.

So, all this, to me, means that air pollution has not had the attention that it deserves from Government to date, and from ourselves as Assembly Members. That's changed over the last year or so. We've started to talk about it more; we've started to take it more seriously. I welcome the fact that the Government is moving towards an action plan, but I don't think we'll address this fully until we put it on our statute book and have a real statutory approach to clean air in Wales.