Law firm ClientEarth will be taking UK environment ministers to court to make them speed up plans to reduce dangerous urban air pollution as it warns that thousands of peoples lives are at risk if present Government plans are not strengthened.
The Department for Energy, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) revealed new plans before Christmas which promised to clean air zones for five cities by 2020 in addition to one already planned for London. However, it will still take at least five years to clean up pollution in many cities, including Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Alan Andrews of ClientEarth has said: "The Government seem to think that the health of people in cities like Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol is less important than that of people in London. While London gets a clean air zone covering all vehicles, Birmingham gets a second-class zone and Derby and Southampton third-class, while other areas including Manchester and Liverpool are left out. We all have the same right to breathe clean air. These plans are an outrageous statement...it is an arrogant response that is simply not good enough."
Justine Thornton, a specialist lawyer in Environmental law and wife of Ed Miliband, has expressed opinion saying: "The Government is still putting short-term political priorities ahead of public health and people’s lives. The revised air pollution plan soft pedals on pollution by private motorists while the Government appears intent on watering down European legal limits for vehicle emissions. The stage is set for a fascinating tussle between law and politics. The UK court will have to roll up its sleeves and decide whether this Government is doing what it can to make our air as safe as possible, ten more years of dangerous air pollution in London puts a whole generation of children at risk. The quality of the air that our children breathe is too important to be decided behind closed doors by Government and vehicle manufacturers.”
