Noise and Pollution (Hansard, 6 July 1993)

§ Mr. Jon Owen Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will introduce measures to reduce the noise and pollution resulting from projected levels of road traffic.

§ Mr. Key
Increasingly tight noise standards have been introduced for all types of vehicle. Since 1980 the noise from the heaviest lorries has been virtually halved. And tighter limits are now being negotiated in the European Community. These new standards will include for the first time standards for tyre noise.
The annual MOT and HGV and PSV tests include an inspection of the exhaust system. Vehicles can also be subjected to roadside checks. We hope to increase the level of these checks by collaboration between police, DoT inspectors and local authority environmental health officers.
We assess the impact of noise on residential property among other factors which influence the alignment of new roads. And the spread of noise is minimised by the use of cuttings, earth mounds and noise barriers. Quieter road surfaces are being developed.
Compensation is offered to householders where property values are diminished due to new road schemes. We are conducting research on whether the level at which this compensation is triggered is the right one.
Tighter controls on the amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and the oxides of nitrogen which can be emitted by petrol and diesel engined cars have been agreed in the European Community. These mean that new petrol-engined cars are now fitted with catalytic converters, reducing by about 75 per cent. emissions of the pollutants mentioned above.
A further directive has just been adopted which will bring emissions from light duty goods vehicles into line with those for passenger cars. It will apply to light vans first registered on or after 1 October 1994. The EC Council of Ministers is now discussing a draft directive for stricter limits on emissions from cars leading up to the year 2000.
In 1991, the Council agreed new tighter, emission standards for diesel engined lorries and buses, to be implemented in two stages. From 1 October 1993, new vehicles will have to meet a substantially tighter limit on NOx emissions. There is also to be a limit for the first time on particulate emissions. From 1 October 1996 the NOx limit will be reduced to about half its present value, and the particulate limit will have a level of stringency similar to that to be applied in the United States from 1994. Limits for the year 2000 will soon be discussed within the EC.
77W

§ Mr. Jon Owen Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which system of motorway charging he proposes to introduce; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Key
The Green Paper "Paying for Better Motorways" is a consultation document. The Government have taken decisions neither on the principle of introducing direct charging on existing motorways nor on the method of doing so, other than to rule out conventional tolling with toll plazas and barriers.

§ Mr. Jon Owen Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost of introducing motorway tolls; what consideration he has given to ways of meeting these costs; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Key
The Green Paper, "Paying for Better Motorways" (Cm 2200) describes a number of possible systems of direct charging. Their costs of introduction would vary and would be influenced by the detailed design chosen. It is not possible at this stage to estimate reliably the cost of introducing motorway charges.

§ Mr. Jon Owen Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimates he has made of the amount of money which could be raised by introducing tolls on the motorway network.

§ Mr. Key
We estimate that an electronic toll of around 1½p per mile for cars and light goods vehicles and an average of around 4½p per mile for other vehicles would generate revenue of some £700 million a year. A permit priced at, say, £50 a year for cars up and to £500 a year for the heaviest goods vehicles would raise some £500 million a year.