Government spends over £100,000 fighting air pollution case against Hackney lawyers

Air pollution in London, from 2014. Photograph: David Holt via Flickr

The government spent at least £105,000 in legal costs whilst fighting and losing a court challenge by Hackney lawyers over illegal levels of air pollution, it has emerged.

ClientEarth, the London Fields-based environmental lawyers who defeated the government, say this taxpayers’ money should have been used instead to put in place further measures to cut air pollution.

James Thornton, ClientEarth’s CEO, said: “Ministers should have spent taxpayers’ money tackling pollution early and effectively.

“Defra has wasted time and money and put thousands of lives at risk by fighting a case which was clear to most people from the outset – that the UK was breaching strict EU pollution limits. We would prefer not to have to take the UK government to court in order to get it to comply with the law.

“40,000 people die prematurely every year because of the government’s continuing inaction and even now Defra intends to waste more money in court seeking to defend the indefensible.”

Mr Thornton added: “I would urge ministers to stop putting further lives at risk and wasting more time and taxpayers money and instead take the urgent action necessary to clean up our toxic air.”

Commenting on the case, Hackney Green party spokesperson Charlotte George said: “The Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health say that air pollution kills 40,000 British people every year.

“It’s appalling that our government spent over £100,000 of taxpayer’s money to fight ClientEarth in court, instead of investing in cleaner public transport, better cycling infrastructure and more renewable energy.

“This government is on the losing side of history – and ClientEarth are doing a great job in trying to hold them to account.”

The Government missed a deadline to meet European Union air quality rules in 2010.

ClientEarth sued ministers for failing in their legal duty to put in place new air quality plans to cut pollution to legal levels in the “shortest possible time”.

They won that case in April last year.

The Supreme court ordered Defra (Department of Environment and Rural Affairs) to put together an action plan.

This was published in December 2015 but will not cut pollution in the capital to legal levels until 2025.

ClientEarth claims the new plan is not enough to fulfil government’s legal duty.

It was given leave last month by a judge for a new judicial review.

A Defra spokesman said: “Our plans clearly set out how we will improve the UK’s air quality through a new programme of clean air zones and continued investment in clean technologies will create cleaner, healthier air for all. We cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”