The legal battle between ClientEarth and the UK government over air quality plans is set to continue after a High Court judge granted a request for a judicial review by ClientEarth, allowing them to take fresh legal action against the government over its failure to tackle illegal levels of air pollution.
Last year the Supreme Court deemed government air quality plans inadequate, and ordered the government to produce more ambitious plans. These plans were released by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), but on assessment ClientEarth believe that these new plans still failed to bring the UK in line with EU air quality standards.
A report from two royal colleges of medicine earlier this week estimated that between 40,000 and 50,000 early deaths are caused by air pollution every year, with some MPs branding air pollution a public health emergency.
Alan Andrews, a ClientEarth lawyer commented: ''The government’s new plans to tackle air pollution are woefully inadequate and won’t achieve legal limits for years to come. The longer they are allowed to dither and delay, the more people will suffer from serious illness or an early death.''
Mary Creagh MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, which is currently investigating air pollution, added: ''The government has dragged its feet on tackling air pollution and that is simply not good enough. It is about time the government set out a clear, comprehensive plan to go much further, much faster.''
Although they could not comment on upcoming legal preceedings, a spokeswoman for DEFRA said: ''Our plans clearly set out how we will improve the UK’s air quality through a new programme of Clean Air Zones, which alongside national action and continued investment in clean technologies will create cleaner, healthier air for all.”
Whilst the governments proposed air quality plans have come under continued criticism, we will have to wait to see the outcome of this latest legal challenge and its impact, if any, on plans to tackle UK air pollution.
