Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to limit the use of diesel generators in town centres.

The Government currently regulates the use of generators with a thermal input of over 1 megawatt in order to minimise the negative impact on air quality, in particular nitrogen oxide emissions.

The Clean Air Strategy, published earlier this year, recognises the scope for potentially tighter controls in the future, both in terms of size of generator and level of emissions. It also commits to exploring the use of environmental permitting for significant non-road mobile machinery sources where appropriate, including generators.