Government has until the end of next week to act on air pollution or face action in the High Court.

 

Environmental group Client Earth – which won a Supreme Court judgement on air pollution against the Government last April – has issued a legal warning to the office of Environment Secretary Liz Truss.

 

The letter says that plans by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs to tackle illegal levels of air pollution fall “woefully short” of what was ordered by the Supreme Court.

 

Vehicle emissions are responsible for a large part of the UK’s air pollution problem.

 

Client Earth says that an estimated 40,000 people die prematurely due to air pollution in the UK every year. It added that Government's current plans do not envisage the UK to have legal levels of air pollution until 2025.

 

Client Earth chief executive James Thornton said: “The Government has consistently ducked its responsibility to ensure our right to clean air. We have had to issue this legal warning to the Government because of its failure to produce a plan that would bring air pollution down as soon as possible.”

 

Government is being asked to produce new plans with a list of measures to bring air pollution within legal limits in the shortest time possible and to put these plans out to public consultation. 

 

A Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs spokesman said: “Our plans clearly set out how we will improve the UK’s air quality through a new programme of Clean Air Zones, which alongside national action and continued investment in clean technologies will create cleaner, healthier air for all.”

 

Earlier this year Putney High Street exceeded its annual limit for nitrogen dioxide emissions in just eight days. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the UK introducing the world's first Clean Air Act.

 

(Photo: Alvey & Towers)