Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27620, in what ways the ring-fenced £100 million is being spent; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure its other projects compliment local air quality plans.

Andrew Jones

Highways England has set out their approach for managing the Air Quality fund in their Delivery Plan (2015-2020), published in March 2015. In this they committed to building a clear picture of where pollution exists around the Strategic Road Network and to deliver ten pilot schemes to help develop new approaches to reduce air pollution. The ring-fenced air quality fund will support the implementation of viable solutions once these have been identified though Highways England’s ongoing work.

Since 2011, Government has committed over £2 billion to measures that will help improve air quality including uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles and investment in sustainable transport. The team responsible for delivering the air quality plan will work with officials in the Department for Transport to ensure that programmes are closely aligned.