"We will ban diesel buses coming in to the city by 2022, so it will be up to the companies to retrofit their vehicles so they fit in with that… We are going to look at new powers and what we can do, that will include the banning of diesel buses in the very near future, the banning of diesel cars coming into the city and also charging extra for diesel cars to park in our car parks," Anderson said, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo newspaper.
Anderson added that the plans had been inspired by the initiatives of Sadiq Khan, his counterpart from London,
"We have seen recently the Mayor of London raising issues of how diesel fumes are affecting life in the capital and we know with the information that we have that its also damaging here in Liverpool," the mayor said.
The issue of air quality in major UK cities has become actual amid attempts of London's authorities to curb air pollution in the largest city of the country. One of the recent initiatives of London's City Hall implies consideration of introducing parking charges for diesel vehicles in order to limit the use of cars and to make the city's air cleaner.
