The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has launched a public consultation on the air quality plan for London, in response to a judicial review brought by environmental law organisation ClientEarth.
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This follows Mr Justice Collins’ ruling that the Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman, must face a High Court hearing for failing to consult the public on the latest plan for reducing dangerous airborne particles (PM10) in the capital.
However, the case will still be heard before Christmas as ClientEarth’s other grounds for judicial review – that the government has failed to produce plans to comply with air quality limits for nitrogen dioxide by 2015 in regions across the UK – have not been answered.
James Thornton, ClientEarth CEO, said: “This is another embarrassing u-turn by the so-called ‘greenest government ever’. We repeatedly demanded that they consult the public on the plan for tackling air pollution. It is only now, faced with court action, that they have recognised Londoners’ legal right to have a say in one of the city’s biggest health problems. Now we will have a chance to properly scrutinise these plans, which we believe fail to address the root causes of the capital’s pollution: dirty old diesel vehicles in inner London.”
ClientEarth launched their judicial review in July. In London, 4,300 people die prematurely every year because of air pollution, which is more than died during the Great Smog of 1952. UK and EU laws set limits for air pollution based on science-based analyses of health risks by the World Health Organization.
Further Information
ClientEarth’s grounds for judicial review:
- When amending an air quality plan the government is required by law to consult the public. The Secretary of State recently successfully applied to the EU for a time extension until 11 June 2011 to comply with legal limits for PM10 in Greater London, (the original deadline was 1 January 2005). The European Commission allowed the time extension on the condition that the government amended the air quality plan for London to include short-term measures to deal with PM10. ClientEarth wrote to Defra in April to remind them of their legal responsibility to consult the public.
- In the UK 40 of the 43 ‘air quality zones’ do not comply with legal limits for NO2. The deadline for complying with these limits was 1 January 2010. The UK government plans to apply to the European Commission in the autumn for time extensions for 23 of those zones. To apply successfully it must demonstrate that it has plans which will bring NO2 within these limits by 1 January 2015. For 17 other zones, including London, the government now states that it will not be seeking a time extension. ClientEarth’s position is that all plans must demonstrate compliance by 2015 at the latest, and the Secretary of State has acted unlawfully by drafting 17 plans that will not do this. The plan for London acknowledges that compliance may not be achieved until 2025.
DEFRA Consultantion
- Update to the Air Quality Plan (pdf, 238 KB)
- Consultation letter (pdf, 82 KB)
European Commission Decision
- The press release of the European Commission’s temporary and conditional exemption is available here.
- The pdf of the Commission’s Decision is available here.
