Whitehall ‘passing the buck’ on illegal air pollution, say Hackney lawyers

ClientEarth supporters outside court last year. Photograph: ClientEarth

Environmental law firm ClientEarth has slammed the government’s latest strategy for tackling toxic air, saying it will fail to quash illegal levels of pollution for “years to come”.

The High Court last month rejected Whitehall’s attempt to postpone the report until after the General Election and ordered it to be published once last Thursday’s local elections had taken place.

Ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) chose to release the new proposals on Friday as results from those local polls were still flooding in from all over the UK.

ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said: “We are continuing to analyse the government’s latest air quality plan, which on the face of it looks much weaker than we had hoped for.

“The court ordered the government to take this public health issue seriously and while the government says that pollution is the largest environmental risk to public health, we will still be faced with illegal air quality for years to come under these proposals.”

This is the latest round in a protracted legal battle between ClientEarth and the government, and it is expected to resume after the law firm accused ministers of shirking their responsibility to tackle illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across the country.

Thornton added: “There needs to be a national network of clean air zones which prevent the most polluting vehicles from entering the most illegally polluted streets in our towns and cities.

“We fail to see how the non-charging clean air zones, proposed by the government, will be effective if they don’t persuade motorists to stay out of those areas. The government seems to be passing the buck to local authorities rather than taking responsibility for this public health emergency.”

Thornton also criticised Whitehall’s failure to commit to a diesel scrappage scheme, which he says is a “crucial element of the range of measures needed to persuade motorists to move to cleaner vehicles”.

According to a 2016 report by the Royal College of Physicians, air pollution is linked to around 40,000 premature deaths in the UK every year.

A Defra statement announcing its latest proposals read: “The options now open for consultation on reducing nitrogen dioxide in our towns and cities are designed to reduce the impact of diesel vehicles, and accelerate the move to cleaner transport.

“Local authorities are already responsible for improving air quality in their area, but will now be expected to develop new and creative solutions to reduce emissions as quickly as possible, while avoiding undue impact on the motorist.

“The government is consulting on a range of measures that could be taken to mitigate the impact of action to improve air quality.

“In line with the timetable directed by the Courts the government is seeking views on these proposals in advance of preparing its final plan for publication by 31 July. All final decisions will be taken by the incoming government.”

The consultation is set to run until 15 June.