School mobile phone ban passed

A ban on the use of mobile phones by pupils in primary school and collège (start of secondary school) has been passed as part of a raft of environmental measures.

Other measures in the law, now passed by parliament include new planning rules on windfarms.

New windfarms must include at least five turbines and at least 500 turbines a year should be built.

Windfarms must be over 500m from homes and businesses and larger ones must have ICPE classification (used for installations that may cause environmental risk and are subject to close scrutiny).

No turbines will be allowed outside areas designated in new regional turbine plans. However, minimum power levels, which the wind industry said would have wrecked half of current projects, have been dropped.

Green MPs voted against the bill which they say has been completely watered down.

Other stipulations in the law, which enacts ideas from 2007’s Grenelle Environnement summit, include:

- Motorway péage cost for lorries to vary by emissions. A tax per kilometre on lorries using other roads by 2012.

- Green and blue belts to protect habitats (mainly against motorways and TGV lines).

- Large firms and councils to produce CO2 emission reports.

- New rules on the sale and advertising of pesticides.

- Environmental impact labels printed on goods as part of a 12-month trial from July 2011.

- A ban on baby feeding bottles containing bisphenol A.

- All new buildings meet low-energy levels from July 2011.

- Public enquiries no longer needed to seek permission to increase discharge of nuclear or chemical waste.