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New diesel and petrol vehicles to be banned from 2040 in UK | |
(35 minutes later) | |
New diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040 in a bid to tackle air pollution, the government is set to announce. | New diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040 in a bid to tackle air pollution, the government is set to announce. |
Ministers are to unveil a £255m fund to help councils introduce steps to deal with pollution from diesel vehicles as part of £3bn spending on air quality. | Ministers are to unveil a £255m fund to help councils introduce steps to deal with pollution from diesel vehicles as part of £3bn spending on air quality. |
The government will publish a court-mandated clean air strategy later, days before a High Court deadline. | |
Campaigners said the measures were promising, but more detail was needed. | |
The government was ordered by the courts to produce new plans to tackle illegal levels of harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide. | |
Electric Mini | |
It came after the courts agreed with environmental campaigners that previous plans were insufficient to meet EU pollution limits. | |
Ministers had to set out their draft clean air strategy plans in May with the final measures due by 31 July. | |
Local measures could include retrofitting buses and other transport to make them cleaner, changing road layouts, altering features such as speed humps and re-programming traffic lights to make vehicle-flow smoother. | |
Earlier this month, President Emmanuel Macron announced similar plans to phase out diesel and petrol cars in France, also from 2040. | |
BMW announced on Tuesday that a fully electric version of the Mini will be built at the Cowley plant in Oxford from 2019. | BMW announced on Tuesday that a fully electric version of the Mini will be built at the Cowley plant in Oxford from 2019. |
And Volvo has said all new models will have an electric motor from the same year. | |
Air pollution is thought to be linked to about 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK, and transport also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. | |
Public health risk | |
A government spokesman said poor air quality was "the biggest environmental risk" to public health in the UK. | |
"This government is determined to take strong action in the shortest time possible," he said. | |
"Our plan to deal with dirty diesels will help councils clean up emissions hotspots - often a single road - through common sense measures which do not unfairly penalise ordinary working people. | |
Environmental law firm ClientEarth, which took the government to court over its clean air strategy, welcomed the measures, but said it wanted to see more detail. | |
Its chief executive James Thornton said: "A clear policy to move people towards cleaner vehicles by banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans after 2040 is welcome, as is more funding for local authorities. | |
"However, the law says ministers must bring down illegal levels of air pollution as soon as possible, so any measures announced in this plan must be focused on doing that." |