§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any contingency plans to ban traffic from city centres to reduce the level of air pollution, as recently introduced in Athens, Madrid, Rome and Berlin.
The Minister of State, Department of Transport (The Earl of Caithness)The need to ban traffic from city centres to reduce air pollution has not arisen in the UK. Comprehensive EC emission standards for new cars, which have been in force since the beginning of the year, will cut harmful emissions from each petrol-engined vehicle by around 80 per cent. Many local authorities are also tackling congestion, which creates more pollution, through traffic management, parking controls and encouraging the use of public transport.