Judge rules UK government must face High Court for failing to protect people from air pollution

16 September 2011 - London

Mr Justice Collins has ruled that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs must face a judicial review for failing to protect people’s health from harmful levels of air pollution in towns and cities. The case will be heard before Christmas.

Environmental law organisation ClientEarth launched their legal challenge in July. In the UK, 29,000 people die prematurely every year because of air pollution – more people than die, or sustain serious injuries, in road traffic accidents. 

James Thornton, ClientEarth CEO, said: “We’re not surprised that the court says the government has a case to answer on air pollution. They have devoted years to finding loopholes to avoid meeting their legal responsibilities, time that could have been spent protecting people. The health cost of their serial non-compliance with air quality laws is shameful.”

UK and EU law set limits for air pollution based on science-based analyses of health risks by the World Health Organization. The judicial review is a legal challenge to the failure by the Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman, to produce plans that will bring nitrogen dioxide (NO2) within legal limits by 1 January 2015, and for refusing to consult the public on her latest plan for reducing dangerous airborne particles (PM10) in London.

ENDS


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Notes to editors:

Click HERE to read about the health impacts of air pollution


ClientEarth’s grounds for judicial review:

  • In the UK 40 of the 43 ‘air quality zones’ do not comply with legal limits for NO2. The deadline for complying with these limits was 1 January 2010. The UK government plans to apply to the European Commission in the autumn for time extensions for 23 of those zones. To apply successfully it must demonstrate that it has plans which will bring NO2 within these limits by 1 January 2015. For 17 other zones, including London, the government now states that it will not be seeking a time extension. ClientEarth’s position is that all plans must demonstrate compliance by 2015 at the latest, and the Secretary of State has acted unlawfully by drafting 17 plans that will not do this. The plan for London acknowledges that compliance may not be achieved until 2025.
  • When amending an air quality plan the government is required by law to consult the public. The Secretary of State recently successfully applied to the EU for a time extension until 11 June 2011 to comply with legal limits for PM10 in Greater London, (the original deadline was 1 January 2005). The European Commission allowed the time extension on the condition that the government amended the air quality plan for London to include short-term measures to deal with PM10. ClientEarth wrote to Defra in April to remind them of their legal responsibility to consult the public.