Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:42 pm on 20 November 2019.
I'm also pleased to contribute to this debate. Of course, this motion isn't a silver bullet, but it's certainly something that has an important contribution to make, first of all, as we've heard, to reduce congestion and traffic, and that will have benefits in terms of reducing air pollution. We know that we are facing a public health crisis, with some 2,000 deaths as a result of air pollution in Wales every year, never mind those who suffer ill health as a result of air pollution. Reducing emissions would help to tackle environmental damage, water pollution, soil pollution, thereby bringing benefits to biodiversity too. And it would, of course, help to encourage active travel and that, in turn, would help with tackling obesity and tackling a sedentary lifestyle. It would also be important in tackling mental health problems and encouraging people to adopt active travel.