IT'S the most ambitious plan yet for cutting pollution in Britain - but is the government letting the air travel industry off the hook?

Ministers yesterday published a draft climate change bill which would make the UK the first country to set legally binding limits on carbon dioxide emissions.

It would require carbon dioxide emissions to be cut by 60 per cent by 2050 - with future governments liable to be taken to court if targets are missed.

But the government would not follow the Conservatives in proposing new taxes on air travel.

Angela Pooley, of East Dorset Friends of the Earth, welcomed much of the bill but added: "I think the big thing that's missing is there are no annual targets and it's not binding. It's done more on a voluntary basis."

She said the bill had failed to address the contribution of aviation to global warming.

She added: "Aviation is growing so phenomenally. Just take Bournemouth.

"They're planning a 300 per cent increase in passenger numbers up to 2015. That's just totally unsustainable."

David Skillicorn, managing director of Bournemouth-based airline Palmair, believed the contribution of air travel to climate change was being overstated.

He described Conservative plans to introduce green "air miles" and taxes on domestic flights as a "very, very thinly veiled attempt to jump on what they've judged is a green bandwagon".

Bournemouth East's Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood said: "We agree with the general thrust of what the bill is trying to achieve but believe it doesn't go anywhere near far enough.

"There's now no doubt that there's a link between human behaviour and global warming, yet this bill does not manage to meet the seriousness of the situation."

He said the Conservatives' plans would direct taxes at the polluters. "There will be green taxes but the money that's saved from that will go towards reducing the tax on families," he said.

South Dorset Labour MP and junior minister Jim Knight said: "This bill will create legally binding targets for emissions reductions and will create a new independent body to monitor progress and help us achieve these goals."

Religious leaders joined in Bournemouth yesterday to formulate a communal environmental goal. Rabbi Neil Amswych, of Bournemouth Reform Synagogue, told the conference at the Carrington Hotel: "We are at a tipping point and running a serious risk of bringing about a self-imposed human cull."