Public Sector Guide Written by Dominic Phinn, business engagement coordinator, ClientEarth
AIR QUALITY
Cleaning up the air: what’s been done and what more is needed? Many local authorities have been ordered to get their air pollution levels down to legal limits. But without national coordination and adequate funding, a patchwork of plans is emerging across the country. ClientEarth’s Dominic Phinn discusses the progress so far and what more is needed from local and national government Every year, air pollution across the UK contributes to the equivalent of 40,000 early deaths and affects the lives of thousands of people who have no choice but to breathe dirty air. Polluted air affects us all, but particularly the young, the elderly and other vulnerable members of society. The link between air pollution and a range of chronic health conditions such as strokes, cancer, heart and asthma attacks are well established. We have recently seen reports published linking poor air quality to other forms of illness such as premature births and stunted lung growth in children. A study published last month in the Journal of Psychiatry, showed links between exposure to air pollution and mental health issues. As the mountain of evidence exposing the ways that air pollution negatively impacts on our health continues to grow, it is inexcusable that air pollution remains at illegal levels across the country.
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eight years. As part of court-ordered national plans, government has directed 36 English local authorities to come up with their own proposals to tackle illegal levels of pollution in their areas in the shortest possible time. In 2016, the High Court laid out the legal tests for air quality plans. These included the aim to achieve compliance as soon as possible; to choose a route to compliance which reduces human exposure as quickly as possible; and ensure that compliance with the limit values is not just possible, but likely. Furthermore, it ordered that that ‘the determining consideration has to be the efficacy of the measure in question and not their cost’.
Illegal air quality plans and the ask of local authorities Over the last twelve months, we’ve seen the publication of the long awaited Road to Zero strategy and more recently the Clean Air strategy. Such national attention is well overdue and welcome but these strategies lack ambition, binding targets and ultimately fail to illustrate how illegal and harmful Local authorities levels of air pollution – what have we seen Given t will be addressed. so far? h e implica As a result Given the implications of deliver tions of of successive delivering measures to ing cle government failures meet these requirements, a measur n to deliver a lawful national coordination es, nat air ional c o o rd i n air quality plan, and significant funding ClientEarth has is essential. Instead signific ation and ant f been forced to it has been all been is essen unding take ministers to left to local authorities tial court. It has launched that are already under three successful legal strain and in many cases challenges over the past do not have the resources,
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