UK government publishes new air quality plan for consultation

The UK government has published a draft plan to improve air quality by reducing nitrogen dioxide levels in the country. The options now open for consultation on reducing nitrogen dioxide in our towns and cities are designed to reduce the impact of diesel vehicles, and accelerate the move to cleaner transport. Local authorities are already responsible for improving air quality in their area, but will now be expected to develop new and creative solutions to reduce emissions as quickly as possible, while avoid
May 8, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The UK government has published a draft plan to improve air quality by reducing nitrogen dioxide levels in the country. The options now open for consultation on reducing nitrogen dioxide in our towns and cities are designed to reduce the impact of diesel vehicles, and accelerate the move to cleaner transport.


Local authorities are already responsible for improving air quality in their area, but will now be expected to develop new and creative solutions to reduce emissions as quickly as possible, while avoiding undue impact on the motorist.

The government is consulting on a range of measures that could be taken to mitigate the impact of action to improve air quality.

In line with the timetable directed by the Courts the government is seeking views on these proposals in advance of preparing its final plan for publication by 31 July. All final decisions will be taken by the incoming government.

This consultation will run until 15 June.

Following the news, Ozgur Tohumcu, chief executive officer of 8615 Tantalum Corporation said:
“It is good news that the Government is taking further action to reduce the 40,000 annual deaths linked to air pollution. They are now talking about up to 15 Clean Air Zones, which could charge a total of 4.4 million cars alone. If the Government pushes forward with an old-fashioned camera based system it will cost billions in compliance and enforcement. Tantalum’s Air.Car service, charges on the actual environmental impact of the individual vehicle and how it is being driven. Air.Car delivers emission reductions cheaper and faster and allows drivers to control how much they pay through better driving habits. The Government is right to be concerned about onerous so-called ‘pollution taxes', and Tantalum’s Air.Car solution would drive down emissions in a smarter and fairer way, putting individual motorists in charge and delivering emissions reductions more cost effectively."

Air Quality & Weather Systems

Related Content

  • November 1, 2023
    The challenging European road to carbon neutrality and the need for distance-based charging
    Fuel taxes are falling and EVs have the potential to create social equity issues. The answer may lie in expanding the use of technology which has successfully been used for two decades with trucks
    Read More
  • December 11, 2013
    Study looks at air quality impacts of low carbon buses
    A new report prepared by Ricardo for the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) to review the air quality impacts arising from the recent rapid increase in the number of low carbon buses in the UK recommends that the legislation needs to consider hybrid technology impacts in the test processes to avoid potential unintended consequences in terms of local emissions. As they mainly operate in urban areas, local emissions from buses are of particular significance. Reviewing worldwide test processes for
    Read More
  • July 20, 2017
    Government targets ‘too conservative’ as 1 in 5 plan to embrace electric cars
    Electric vehicle uptake may increase over the next few years to levels far above UK Government targets. In research undertaken by Baringa Partners, nearly a fifth of people said they would consider buying an electric vehicle for their next car, double the Government goal for electric cars to make up nine per cent of the fleet by 2020. However, concerns over purchase price and range mean nearly a third of people believe electric cars will never overtake petrol and diesel vehicles. Baringa is urging the Gover
    Read More
  • December 14, 2021
    EVs: Time for a rethink
    Given a growing body of evidence that EVs are not the clean, green machines they are made out to be, Andrew Bunn suggests they can only be part of the puzzle – not the answer to environmental problems
    Read More

Highlighted Content