The ESG has welcomed the announcement of Transport now forming part of the Ministry for the Environments responsibilities.

A statement from the ESG follows below:

Transport in Gibraltar has long  been an issue of concern to the group given the serious environmental and  public health impacts from this activity. It believes air pollution and climate  change factors, as laid out in Gibraltar’s Climate Strategy, underpins the need for  urgent action in this area. 

The ESG has published its wish list in many areas including Road Transport  issues since 2003. Among our urgent objectives are: 

- The need to launch and enforce the anti idling law, especially in vulnerable  locations such as schools, all bus stops (Govt and Private), taxi ranks, coach parks and at popular tourist sites. 

- The need to replace all second hand buses, which fail EU emission standards in  place to protect public health, with clean alternatives.  

- Thirdly we need to update our MOT emission standards, which permits vehicles   to pollute to their date of manufacture allowing emission of dangerous levels of  pollutants. These are especially harmful to the young and the elderly. 

On an ongoing basis there are several other issues we are concerned about  regarding impacts from Transport that we will take up with the new Minister for  Transport as soon as we are given a meeting date.