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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the level of pollution produced by equipment and vehicles operating on building sites in town and city centres; for what reasons such machinery is not subject to low emission controls; and if he will make a statement.

We have not undertaken a specific assessment of the level of pollution produced by equipment and vehicles operating on building sites in town and city centres. Our annual emission statistics set out pollution by source, including from manufacturing industries and construction. The latest statistics to 2015 are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/emissions-of-air-pollutants.

Machinery used on building sites is likely to be classed as non-road mobile machinery (NRMM). The UK Government has been actively involved in developing new legislation for NRMM at a European level. In January this year, new legislation came into force with more stringent emission limits for major air pollutants from engines used in NRMM. This extends the scope of existing legislation to cover all sizes of petrol and diesel engines used in NRMM and improves the legal framework. The new emission standards are mandatory for new engines being sold, for the first tranche of categories, from January 2019.