7. Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Air Quality

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:00 pm on 20 June 2018.

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Photo of Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn Labour 5:00, 20 June 2018

And the second is educating both children and parents on air quality issues and exploring solutions collectively, such as car sharing and no idling policies around schools. To support this guidance, I will provide funding to raise air quality awareness through the Eco-Schools initiative and the Young Dragons project. In fact, I met with pupils and staff at Pen-Y-Bryn school in Cardiff just this morning to see what they were doing and how they were starting to implement this project, to see it in action and show my support for this scheme.

Schools that are involved have been sent 10 diffusion tubes, and they are invited to put these up at various locations around the school. The examples I saw today were by the main gates, by the car park, and one was right the way through, across the field by the trees, but there was also one that was neighbouring a busy road going past the side of the school. Those results will then be sent off to be analysed and then will come back to the schools and the children can develop their own campaigns in terms of how they can tackle this and how they can encourage the adults around the school to take this on board. They already had quite a number of ideas today, so I look forward to hearing how they take them forward. The project introduced pupils to the cause and impacts of air pollution, and information on how they can make these changes.

In addition, our clean air plan for Wales has set out key pollutants, including both nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, and their effects on public health and the natural environment in Wales. I know a number of Members brought up the issue in terms of how it affects children and how we need to take action for our children and future generations, including my colleague Julie Morgan. This plan will help us to actually highlight specific activities that might already be under way to address air quality at sensitive receptor points, such as schools and hospitals, but also to determine what action could and should be done to take that further as well.

So, if I refer to David Rees coming in in terms of—. I applaud your efforts to come in and actually correct, once again and on the record, the WHO's figures for Port Talbot, labelling it the UK's most polluted town. You're absolutely right to correct that, but I think, as we said, we must not be complacent: we know action needs to be taken in that area. And you acknowledged, as other Members did, the particular challenges: the combination of both heavy industry and major roads, and actually how we strike that balance in terms of the economic, the environmental and health impacts as well in terms of the action we take.

In terms of looking at the specific location on the M4, that's an extension where it was, and it's where the monitoring we have shows that we are exceeding our legal limits. As you can imagine, bringing in speed restrictions is not always the most universally popular move—I've had some interesting feedback, shall we say. Somebody said to me, 'You're obviously not familiar with this stretch of road', and David knows that I have become more familiar over the last couple of years with that stretch of road, and I hopefully will continue to be so.

The action David and others will be familiar with is the Welsh Government's action plan on clean air for Port Talbot, and this reaffirms our commitment to proactively tackling poor air quality in the area. I've already asked officials to re-examine this plan, and the approach that it takes and the evidence that underpins it to make sure that it is still the best way to tackle the specific issues in the Port Talbot area, and to see what additional action we may need to take to bring that into line. To actually emphasise the importance of that, I intend to meet with Tata Steel, Natural Resources Wales and Neath Port Talbot council as soon as possible to support this process and see what action we need to be taking collectively.

Members will also be aware of action under way to tackle persistent air pollution in terms of clean air zones. Our 'A Clean Air Zone Framework for Wales' and the supplementary nitrogen dioxide plan aim to address those problems of traffic pollution. And building on actions on air quality and soundscapes in 'Planning Policy Wales', I am pleased to inform Members that the Welsh Government will also conduct a review of technical advice note 11 on noise. We will replace it in this Assembly term with a new technical advice note on air quality and soundscape.

Our clean air zone framework provides a consistent approach to the introduction of clean air zones by local authorities. It will help businesses and individuals and support cities to grow and transition to a low-emission economy. We know that clean air zones will deliver targeted action on air pollution hotspots to improve air quality and health and support economic growth. They encourage the replacement of old polluting vehicles with modern, cleaner technologies, such as ultra-low emission vehicles. But a clean air zone may not always be appropriate outside some urban areas where no alternative routes are available—other action may be required. Welsh Government is working with local authorities to identify local solutions to both achieve compliance in the shortest time and the best for our communities in the long term. 

You talked about the links to the decarbonisation agenda and the need to move away from fossil fuels, and use modern technology, and you obviously talked about the Riversimple hydrogen-powered cars, which is supported by the Welsh Government. I think it's how we strike that balance in terms of being at the forefront and managing the transition with those major car manufacturers that may already be in Wales, to make sure that we manage that, and, again, balancing the economic and the environmental, but for us to be at the forefront.

I'm aware that I'm running out of time, so I will try and draw to a close, but just one point: the importance of behaviour change I don't think can be overstated. So, work is under way to raise awareness of poor air quality and we're working with the What Works Centre for Wellbeing to develop a communications plan and raise awareness of the impacts on health and I've committed £70,000-worth of funding for this.

Can I close by just thanking Members again for bringing forward this debate? I think everyone made clear that it's not simply about the environment; I think it's a pressing social issue as well, as we've heard, and it has implications for our children and future generations if we don't take action. So, I thank Members for all their calls to action and I just want to close by reiterating this Welsh Government's commitment to taking action using all those levers at our disposal to ensure clean air for our communities and our country. Diolch yn fawr.