Agenda item
Call on Government to introduce a new Clean Air Act
Proposed by Councillor Wolff, seconded by Councillor Simmons
Green member motion
This Council is committed to improving air quality within the city, which currently breaches EU limits in some areas (the annual mean Air Quality Strategy objective for NO2 was breached at two out of three of the continuously monitored sites and 24% of the diffusion tube sites [Source: Oxford City Council 2016 Air Quality Annual Status Report; July 2017]). It recognises the need to take local action but also acknowledges that this can only take place within a supportive, national legal framework.
Currently, this is inadequate and lacking in many respects which is making the work of this Council in tackling poor air quality more challenging. This Council therefore calls upon the UK Government to introduce a new Clean Air Act which should include consideration of the following:
1. Enshrine the right to breathe in UK law. Ensure the UK becomes a world leader in the new technologies and industries that will help us clean up our air.
2. Expand ‘Clean Air Zones’: It should expand and strengthen the network of Clean Air Zones across the country - limiting the most polluting vehicles, including cars, from entering air pollution hot-spots - creating funding for local authorities to invest in walking, cycling and clean public transport. These should be strong enough to ensure legal compliance on NO2 by the end of 2018.
3. Increase VED: It should increase the first year Vehicle Excise Duty on new diesel vehicles (except vans) by around £800, to reflect the additional cost to society of dirty diesel engines, raising £500m to help fund a targeted diesel scrappage scheme.
4. Diesel Scrappage: It should introduce a targeted diesel scrappage scheme to take diesel vehicles off the road as soon as possible, and ensure that all those who live within Clean Air Zones can affordably replace polluting diesel vehicles. As well as offering replacement clean vehicles, these schemes should also offer alternatives such as car club membership and rail season tickets.
5. Fine the Cheats: It should set out a plan for how companies who cheated emissions testing would be fined. Despite a $14.7bn settlement in the US, Volkswagen, for example, has yet to pay any damages in the EU - an equivalent fine in the UK could raise more than £8 billion from VW alone.
6. Independent Regulation: It should guarantee the independence of the Vehicle Certification Agency - changing the way it is funded ensuring that the car industry doesn’t have a disproportionate influence on its activities.
7. Monitor PollutionHotspots: It should ensure there is a comprehensive network of air monitoring stations in pollution hotspots - ensuring that air quality is monitored around hospitals, health clinics, and schools, so that those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of air pollution, notably children, the elderly and infirm, are protected.
8. Active Transport: It should undertake a national review of transport system with serious investment in buses, trams and trains along with safe routes for walking and cycling. People need an alternative to car use and we must protect our towns, cities and countryside from the pollution and congestion that comes with new roads .
9. Clean Energy: It should scale-up investment in renewable energy - which, as it stands, is set to drop by 95% over next two years. Harnessing the clean energy that we have in abundance would be a win-win, both for tackling climate change and air pollution.
10. Ditch Coal: It should bring forward the coal phase-out date to 2023 at the least, and gradually end the £6bn a year subsidies in the UK to dirty energy. Pollution from the UK’s coal-fired fleet causes roughly 2,900 premature deaths a year.
Accordingly, this Council asks the Leader to write to the City's MPs and the relevant Minister asking them to actively support such a new Clean Air Act
Minutes:
This motion was not taken because the time for discussing motions had elapsed.