OXFORD City Council has joined 15 other local authorities calling for 'urgent action to tackle UK dirty air'.

Council cabinet member for environment John Tanner, pictured above, centre right, signed the demand at the UK100 Clean Air Summit in November.

The summit called for clean air zones across the UK – such as the one being planned in Oxford – and a diesel scrappage fund for drivers.

The 16 leaders, who together represent more than 6.8m people across the UK, called on the Government to create a way for them to collectively tackle air pollution on a nationwide scale.

John Tanner signed the letter on behalf of council leader Bob Price, who said: "Oxford has genuine ambition to clean up our air but our efforts risk missing the target without further national action, such as a scrappage scheme to support drivers shifting to cleaner cars and investment in research to speed up the development of electric or hydrogen vehicles."