Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 2014-04-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they are making in complying with the European Union Directive 2008/50/EC on air quality.

Lord De Mauley

The UK reports compliance with the limit values in the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) to the European Commission in September each year. The last report related to concentrations of air pollutants in 2012. This indicated that the UK met both the daily and annual limit values for particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometres or less (PM₁₀)and complied with the EU limit values for sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, benzene and lead.

Meeting the nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) limit values alongside busy roads continues to be a significant challenge for the UK and most other Member States. In 2012, 32 zones exceeded the annual mean limit value (or margin of tolerance for zones with a time extension) and two exceeded the hourly mean limit value. The UK is investing heavily in measures to reduce emissions, in particular from transport, and over £2bn worth of measures have been announced since 2011. These measures will address both particulate matter and NO₂.

Further information is available in the series of reports on ‘Air Pollution in the UK’ available at: http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/index

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