8. Will the Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's policy on tackling air pollution along the A470? OAQ54495

Thank you. Tackling air pollution to support health, biodiversity and environmental improvements on the A470 and across Wales remains a key priority for the Welsh Government. Speed cameras have been installed on the A470 to enforce 50 mph speed limits, and we will continue to develop additional measures to reduce nitrogen dioxide levels.

Thank you for that answer, Minister. I'm clearly not a scientist or a traffic engineer, so I'm guided by experts and their knowledge in this and what they've told us about harmful levels and the effect of pollution in those communities along the A470. But understandably, since the speed cameras have gone live, there has been more general discussion around the issue, particularly from people travelling down from the Valleys in places like Merthyr Tydfil. The statement from the economy Minister earlier in the week gave a very good explanation for that, and I think that was helpful. Those kinds of communications to people generally about the need for us to be monitoring speed and emissions are really helpful. But just as importantly, can we do more to help manage the source of pollution, or the pollution problem itself, by, for example, not adding further traffic pressures to specific sections of the A470 due to major developments, and stepping up efforts to keep existing services, like the DWP offices, in our Valleys towns, and not siting them in areas that are already suffering unacceptable levels of pollution and bringing more traffic to those areas when we could disperse that by bringing better jobs closer to home in the Valleys?

Thank you very much for that question. I too have one of these speed limits in my own constituency, so I'm very well aware—I've had exactly the same. The cameras have just gone live, and as you say, there's much more talk about them. I think the monitoring report that the Minister for Economy and Transport published on 7 October did confirm that, since the introduction of the 50 mph speed limit in June 2018, levels on the A470 between Upper Boat and the Bridge Street interchange have reduced, but of course they still remain above the EU directive limit of 40 μg/cu m. So it's too early to make any firm conclusions, and further monitoring is obviously being undertaken, but we were very reassured that across all of the five sites, we have seen a reduction. I think that now speed cameras are in place, that will encourage people again to adhere to those speed limits, which perhaps hasn't been the case over the last year, since the limits were first introduced. 

Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the signs—because I thought it was very important we communicated much more clearly why we were putting those speed limits in place. In the other four sites, they've all had the signage installed now, but unfortunately on the A470 they haven't been able to do that. But we are looking—certainly the Minister's officials are looking to do that as a matter of urgency. [Interruption.] That's good to hear. It's so that people understand why we're doing it, because I think initially there was some confusion over the need for that 50 mph zone. I think the point that you make around thinking about where to site jobs, particularly public sector jobs, shows why it has to be across government, why it's not just the responsibility of the Minister for economy, or myself as Minister with responsibility for the environment. It has to be cross-government, and that's why all Ministers have to look at their policies to make sure we're doing all that we can around air pollution.

Minister, I think the people that use or live near the A470 between Upper Boat and Pontypridd will want to know when we're going to move from monitoring, which I welcome, to actual enforcement of the EU directive on nitrogen dioxide. When will we have that assurance that we're achieving this really important reduction in air pollution?

I mentioned there will be obviously further monitoring on the back of the report that the Minister for Economy and Transport published last week. We are expecting levels of compliance to improve significantly, as I said, following the installation of the average speed cameras and the comprehensive signing layout. It is something that we need to continue to work on. What we want to do is achieve compliance in the shortest time possible, so that's why we, for instance, are having continued development and stakeholder engagement on the precautionary retained measures, and in the case of the A470, the measures are a clean air zone, air quality barriers and improved car parking.