UK Government Air Quality Plan “Still Not Good Enough”

The UK government may face further court action after releasing its latest air quality plan today. Ministers had until December 31 to come up with proposals to deal with illegal levels of pollution across many parts of the UK.

Environmental lawyers ClientEarth say the Defra plan published by environment secretary Liz Truss does not deal with problem adequately.

ClientEarth air quality lawyer, Alan Andrews, said: “In April, the Supreme Court ordered the government to come up with a plan to achieve legal pollution limits as soon as possible. The Government’s latest plan for clean air zones doesn’t tackle pollution from passenger cars – one of the biggest sources of pollution, and ignores the problem in dozens of other cities where people are breathing illegal levels of pollution.

Mr Andrews said: “We need to study these plans in detail but on first glance they don’t seem to achieve air quality standards we want to see, as soon as possible. If on further examination we are not fully satisfied,  and we believe that thousands more lives will be put at risk, then we will take the government back to court in the new year. “