Diesel threat in cities
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by Karen Miles • Local councils look more likely to impose controls on diesel-engined vehicles following a warning from a senior Government scien tist that diesel emissions are too high in city centres.
Richard Derwent, a Meteorological Office scientist and adviser on the Government's Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards, says that by 2005 national standards for air quality will be broken in large cities because of large volumes of diesel traffic. Most other pollutants are expected to meet their targets.
The worst results are expected in major centres such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Belfast. The Department of Environment estimates that diesel particulates send up to 20,000 people a year to hospital with breathing difficulties. From next April local authorities will have to test their air quality and will then be empowered to close polluted roads temporarily or permanently.
National Society for Clean Air development officer Tim Brown believes the combination of the new powers and the 2005 targets will encourage many local authorities to bring in voluntary agreements with hauliers. This could include deals on the use of lower sulphur diesel as well as electric vehicles.
"Local authorities must work out what to do. This could include restricting access to certain types of vehicle and this could spill over into delivery fleets," says Brown.