£5 million to cut vehicle pollution
2 Jun 2014 12:44 PM
Clean Vehicle Fund will
improve air quality on local roads.
Towns and cities across England
can bid for funding to make improvements to local bus fleets and other vehicles
which would slash pollution, Transport Minister Baroness Kramer announced today
(2 June 2014).
Local authorities and other
public bodies will be able to apply for a share of £5 million from
the Clean Vehicle Technology
Fund.
Baroness Kramer
said:
This is our latest step in a
major programme of measures to make our air cleaner. We are raising the bar and
making sure that the ongoing trend of improving air quality continues. This
£5 million will mean less harmful exhaust fumes from buses, and other
vehicles, in some of our most polluted urban areas. This funding will also
secure jobs and growth in the industries delivering the
technology.
Last year’s Clean Bus
Technology Fund helped modify over 500 buses. This year’s scheme allows
local authorities to apply for funding to improve other vehicles in their
fleets, providing they are used predominantly on local roads with poor air
quality.
The funding, up to a maximum of
£500,000 for any one authority, will allow authorities to fit
pollution-busting technology treating exhaust fumes or converting vehicles to
run on cleaner fuels.
The scheme builds on the
£7.3 million awarded last year across 26 local authorities through the
Clean Bus Technology Fund.
Reducing pollutant emissions
from older buses, other heavy duty vehicles, and taxis, in particular oxides of
nitrogen (NOx), demonstrates the government’s commitment to improved air
quality in our towns and cities, and meeting EU air quality
standards.
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