I understand your concerns and can assure you that tackling this problem is a top priority for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. While significant improvements have been made in air quality over many years, more needs to be achieved.

Over the past five years the Government has committed over £2 billion to help bus operators upgrade their fleets, reduce pollution from a range of vehicles such as refuse trucks and fire engines through cutting edge technologies, and promote the development of clean alternative fuels such as powering taxis in Birmingham with liquid petroleum gas. There is also a planned consultation on options for limiting emissions from diesel generators.

One of the main reasons cities continue to face air quality problems is that diesel vehicles have failed to deliver expected emission reductions in real world driving conditions. The Government has therefore won agreement to introduce more stringent emissions testing, ensuring vehicles live up to their low emission credentials.

Since air quality in a given area is primarily the responsibility of local authorities, Ministers have also written to councils to ask them what they are doing to tackle air pollution. They are being encouraged to apply to a grant fund to cover the costs of local action.