Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:22 pm on 24 April 2018.
I too think that this is a very important statement today because of the public health issues and also pollution generally and the quality of our environment. I know that the British Heart Foundation have done a lot of research, spending millions of pounds, on the connection between air pollution and heart disease, and they're quite clear that this is a priority for them. Outdoor air pollution contributes to thousands of premature deaths annually, as we heard earlier, and long-term and short-term exposure can make existing heart conditions worse as well as cause new ones and, indeed, is a big stroke risk as well. They see road transport as a key contributor, as we've heard many times already. So, with that sort of background, I share some of the impatience and frustration that we heard about earlier in terms of the length of time it's taking for us to show signs of getting to grips with the magnitude of the issues and the need to take necessary action.
So, I just wonder whether the work that will be undertaken now, Minister, will include cross-references to active travel and integrated transport systems, and whether there might be consideration of a default 20 mph zone in inner urban areas, given that that lends itself to walking and cycling and getting people out of their cars to playing on the streets and creating those more health-friendly and environmentally friendly areas. Perhaps there could be some more specific schemes, such as the one that's been mooted, I think, for quite some time, in terms of LPG conversion for taxi fleets, which, I believe, repay themselves in cost terms over about two years, and do make a significant impact to air pollution in our towns and cities. And similarly with buses and their emissions.
And tree planting, Minister, because I know that it's been shown in some studies that trees can take something like 50 per cent of particulate matter out of the air. I know that there have been successes and failures in tree planting terms in Wales in the past, and sometimes it's about the right sort of trees that don't get bigger than anticipated and don't create problems with the leaves that weren't anticipated, because, quite often, trees have been planted and then, when they've grown to a certain size, they've been uprooted and taken away and not replaced. So, I just wonder, when you talk about the air quality fund of £20 million, the support and guidance, will that be addressing these issues? To what extent will local authorities be guided and to what extent will they have wide discretion?