Court rules against UK government in pollution case

The High Court on Wednesday ruled for the third time in three years that the UK’s plans to combat air pollution are inadequate and unlawful.

In a ruling handed down at the High Court in London, Justice Garnham declared the government’s failure to require action from 45 local authorities with illegal levels of air pollution in their area unlawful, maintained ClientEarth, an environmental group that filed the case.

“For the third time in the space of three years, the courts have declared that the government is failing in its obligation to clean up the air in our towns and cities,” said the group's lawyer Anna Heslop after the ruling.

“We are delighted that the court has today ordered the government to urgently take further action to fix the dangerous air pollution in our towns and cities.”

The case was filed after what is said government’s continued failure to protect people’s health against the harmful effects of air pollution. After winning the previous two cases, lawyers decided to submit a judicial review to highlight inadequacies in the government’s action plan to meet the legal requirements.

A cyclist on London's the Mall wears a pollution mask. Air pollution claims the lives of about 40,000 people a year in the UK.

The original action plan intended to meet the air quality standards in 2009, but eight years after the deadline for compliance, 37 out of 45 zones across the UK remain in breach of legal air pollution limits.

The court, however, rejected case related to the Government’s action plans for five key cities, including London.

Deteriorating Air quality in European Union has become a serious issue with government faltering to meet the ambient quality standards.

Last month, European Commission summoned environment ministers of the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic for failing to implement effective measures to control pollutants.

“At first sight, these were not substantial enough [proposals] to change the big picture. Without new and effective measures, in many cases, air quality standards will further continue to be exceeded for months and years, even well beyond 2020,” the EU’s environment commissioner Karmenu Vella said in a statement released after the meeting.

According to a recent report by Royal College Physicians, more than 400,000 people are still dying prematurely every year because of a massive, widespread failure to address air pollution.

Activists are demanding immediate measures to control air pollutants including particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and 10, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide damaging the health of people.

ClientEarth’s previous two cases have resulted in the formulation of policies to control rising level of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.

(CGTN)