Reducing Pollution in Port Talbot

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 20 February 2019.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 2:00, 20 February 2019

Thank you for that answer, Minister, and, obviously, there are two main areas of the pollution that we've been concerned about. One is vehicle emissions, which I will raise with the Minister for Economy and Transport, because it's under his remit at this moment in time. The other one is, obviously, industrial emissions. As you've highlighted there, you have discussions with Tata, and I want to raise the issue of pollution from Tata. We all understand the importance of Tata to the economy of the town and the area, but at the same time it needs to be a responsible neighbour to the residents of my constituency. What discussions will you have with Tata to ensure that the emissions and the pollution that we are seeing—? And residents complain to me every day that they wash their car, they get up in the morning, and their cars are full of red dust or black dust, their houses, their gardens, the window sills, the patio sets—everything is continually being polluted. What discussions are you having with Tata to look at how they can actually reduce that for my constituents, because, whilst it's not deemed to be the worst of the pollutants, because the PM10s and the PM2.5s are, people are still breathing in this dust, they are still living in this dust, they're carrying this dust throughout their houses, and we need to do something to ensure that it actually is reduced?