Draft plan to improve air quality is ‘weak and incoherent’

The government finally published a draft plan – for consultation – to improve air quality by reducing nitrogen dioxide levels in towns and cities in May, having been ordered by the High Court not to delay publication until after the general election. The government is consulting on a range of measures, including reducing the impact of diesel-fuelled vehicles and accelerating the move to cleaner transport.

Local authorities are already responsible for improving air quality in their area, says the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, 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.

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

Last November, environmental law firm ClientEarth won a High Court case against the government over what it called the failure to tackle illegal air pollution across the UK. The government was required to bring the UK into compliance with the law ‘as soon as possible.’

The same organisation now says that the draft plan is weak and incoherent, and lacks the ambition and detail to tackle Britain’s illegal levels of air pollution. ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said: ‘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.’

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. The government has also failed to commit to a diesel scrappage scheme and this is a crucial element of the range of measures needed to persuade motorists to move to cleaner vehicles.’