8 March 2011 | Read the letter

In this letter to the Commission, ClientEarth highlights the fact that the UK government is ignoring the Commission’s guidance on assessing compliance with legal limits on dangerous airborne particles (‘PM10’). The UK’s projected compliance with these limits in 2011 relies on deducting breaches that have been caused by windblown sea salt.

The UK’s projected compliance with the daily limit value in 2011 relies on subtraction of sea salt. The number of projected exceedances of the daily limit value in 2011 at the Marylebone Road monitoring station reduces from 43 to 32 (i.e. below the maximum 35 days of exceedance) once sea salt has been deducted.

However, this calculation uses a methodology for deducting sea salt which according to the Commission’s guidance is not reliable.