Thank you very much for calling me to speak in this very important debate, which is so important to our children and to future generations. Congratulations to the cross-party group of Members who have put this motion forward. I think it is, when you think about it, absolutely shocking that 2,000 people in Wales are dying as a result of air pollution, and obviously for people with asthmatic conditions and different lung conditions it is such a dangerous situation to be in polluted air. It's something that I think we are all very concerned about.

In Cardiff, Public Health Wales estimates that 225 deaths a year—that's 5 per cent of all deaths—can be attributed to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide in the Cardiff and Vale health board area. The ClientEarth report, which has already been referred to this afternoon, in September 2017 showed up the unacceptable pollution levels at schools. In Cardiff, of the seven schools that were mentioned, three of them are in my constituency of Cardiff North—that's Cathays High School, St Joseph's school and Ysgol Mynydd Bychan. Those are all situated along Whitchurch Road, along North Road, along the arterial roads that are coming into Cardiff, where all the traffic pours down those roads to people who work in Cardiff centre, or work in this area. So, those schools are within 150m of a road that exceeded the legal limit on air pollution, and I think that is an absolutely shocking situation, and it is shocking that our children are actually exposed to these levels.

We don't know, really, what the long-term impact will be on the health of children living in heavily polluted areas or going to schools next to very busy roads, and of course, it is interesting reading one of the briefings for this debate, which said that, of course, because children are so much smaller than adults, they are much closer to the fumes, much more likely to be affected by them. There is also the issue of inequality, and we know there are more fumes in poorer areas. So there are huge issues related to this subject. So, I'm very glad that the Welsh Government is taking action, that there are already going to be the temporary lower speed limits on some of our major roads, and the £20 million new air quality fund. But I think that it's important to be aware that many of the levers to tackle these issues are within our grasp. It's already been said in the debate that this is a problem that is caused by us, and by our activities, and one of the ways that we can, of course, address it is by promoting active travel.

I hope very much that the metro and the increased number of stations and services will really help encourage people to use public transport and to get out of their cars. I'm particularly pleased that, in Cardiff North, we're going to have the development of the new Velindre hospital, and I'm very pleased that there is now a plan for the train or tram to go right into the middle of the hospital. And so, the fact that, over a year, there will be thousands and thousands of people going to that hospital, and the fact they'll be able to go straight there—I think that's the sort of initiative that we need to have: that when we do have new projects like that, we absolutely build in, right from the beginning, the ability for people not to use their cars, but to use public transport easily and conveniently.

I support the efforts that Cardiff council is making. I support clean air zones; I think it's the way forward. Cardiff council published its transport and clean air green paper this year, and its vision of Cardiff as a 20 mph city—the whole of the city—I think, again, is something that would take us forward. Earlier in the day, when we were on questions to the Commission, I mentioned the Sustrans 'Bike Life' report, which showed that more people would cycle if there was more investment in cycling infrastructure. I know in Cardiff, there are cycle superhighways in the pipeline, which would be great, but also, there's a great need to join up cycle journeys, and people do need to feel safe cycling along residential streets. For example, I think there's always a great nervousness that someone will open a car door and knock people off their bikes. I just think you've got to make people so aware of people that are cycling and to provide safe places to cycle. I also mentioned the importance of encouraging more women to cycle and referred to this particular report showing that women, in particular, are lagging behind in terms of using bikes and being involved in driving this forward.

So, I think that this is a very important debate, I support it entirely and I think this is something that the Welsh Government is behind. I think we need to drive it as much as we can with all our actions and with all the different levers that we have here to take it forward.