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Dept for Transport

Answer

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress his Department has made on the joint Public Service Agreement target to improve rural air quality by meeting the National Air Quality Strategy objectives for carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particles, sulphur dioxide, benzene and 1-3 butadiene. [201207] Mr. Jamieson: In 2002 there were no exceedences of any PSA objective across any of the pollutants included in the air quality PSA in rural areas. This is also the case in 2004 to date. 2003 saw unusually high levels of PM10 across the UK with Saharan dust storms, continental particles and continued re-circulation of air contributing to several notable particle pollution episodes. Consequently, in 2003, there were exceedences of the objectives for particles (PM10) at two rural monitoring sites measuring PM10. In implementing the White Paper, "The Future of Transport", my Department is pursuing measures to ensure that air quality continues to improve across the whole country, including rural areas. We are providing significant resources to support local authorities' local transport plans, which are required to take account of air quality and we are actively encouraging the European Commission to produce tighter proposals for emission standards for new vehicles (Euro standards).

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

201207; 428 c119W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Carbon monoxide Air pollution Exhaust emissions Pollution control Standards Rural areas Benzene Sulphur dioxide Public service agreements Nitrogen dioxide Butadiene

Link

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