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CleanUp grant cut proposals under fire
Page 12
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL Industries Commission (EIC) has warned that proposals to cut grants to help operators clean up trucks could jeopardise the UK's European Union obligations to meet air quality standards.
EIC, which represents companies that develop pollution control technologies, is campaigning for the Department for Transport to increase funding for The Energy Saving Trust, which runs the PowerShift and CleanUp grant programmes. It also wants it to match the demand from operators for clean technology following last year's fiasco when the schemes ran out of money (CM 20 November 2003). The move comes after the government said it is considering cuts of up to 40% in its grants for 2004-05, as well as capping the amount available (CMS February).
EIC director Merlin Hyman says: "There is no point in trying to put off the investment in cleaning up commercial vehicles. We're talking about a finite number of vehicles with finite life spans. Better to clean them up now and get the maximum air quality benefit for the same amount of money.
"CleanUp has created a partnership between government, vehicle providers to improve the nation's air quality. However, if government is not prepared to give longterm confidence in the support it offers then industry will not invest in the new technologies that are vital to achieve our legal air quality targets."