Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 17 January 2018.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 1:46, 17 January 2018

The Member is right. Air quality is something—. Actually, the first debate in this portfolio that I led was on air quality. It is a commitment and remains a priority. You refer to the ClientEarth case. I can't comment on that in detail at the moment, as it's an ongoing case. But, actually, in terms of our aspirations in the clean air plan that we've set out, it's not just about meeting those obligations. It's actually making sure that we pave the way for the future and we go above and beyond. We know how important air quality is. Poor air quality impacts, obviously, on the most vulnerable communities, and it is really important that we take action on this.

In the debate, we did outline the clean air plan for Wales, which includes clean air zone frameworks. We are going to be working with local government, and you heard in the budget yesterday there is additional funding for that as well. It's also actually using all the levers we have at our disposal, as well as encouraging the UK Government to press forward on areas where they can take action, such as phasing out diesel vehicles.

I think it's really important that there's a commitment to work across Government on that. Whereas air quality is considered an environmental issue, it can't be tackled that way alone. So, it's really important that we work across, looking at transport, for low-emission vehicles, and look at our infrastructure, and make sure that when developments are taking place, air quality provision is taken into account when that happens.