Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:43 pm on 21 May 2019.

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Photo of Paul Davies Paul Davies Conservative 1:43, 21 May 2019

Well, First Minister, I'm glad that you're actually looking at a clean air Act, but I would suggest that I think it is now important that you do actually bring forward that legislation in order to tackle this very important issue. Now, your Government has set targets to halve the 2005 carbon emissions by 2030, but, clearly, not enough progress has been made towards meeting this particular target, because figures from the UK Committee on Climate Change show that, between 2015 and 2016, greenhouse gas emissions increased by 5 per cent in Wales, compared to an 11 per cent decrease in Scotland. Air pollution is not just contained to the target areas. In England and Scotland, progress, clearly, is being made following Berlin's example, with cities including Leeds and Birmingham bringing forward plans for clean air zones. Now, as you know, we on this side of the Chamber have called for these zones to be put in place in Wrexham, Swansea, Newport and Cardiff, and it is disappointing that Cardiff has dropped its plans for a zone. This is despite the Welsh Government being taken to the High Court last year over its failure to bring forward a firm plan to improve air quality. So, First Minister, since the Welsh Government announced the air quality fund last year, what progress has been made on improving the nitrogen dioxide levels in the five target road areas and what specific action is the Welsh Government taking to ensure that local authorities also play their role and are actually tackling air pollution in their respective areas?