Read the article on the Guardian’s Comment is Free
The European Commission last week announced that it will be taking legal action against the UK for its continuing failure to meet agreed air quality standards. This follows the introduction of the new EU air quality directive in June last year and is likely to result in the UK incurring financial penalties for the infringement.
The decision comes not a moment too soon, as the UK’s failure to comply with the basic standards since 2005 has led to unacceptable levels of certain airborne pollutants. Greater London remains one of the worst areas for air quality, although sites in Glasgow, Southampton, Brighton and other urban centres also regularly exceed the daily limits. High levels of these pollutants are extremely dangerous to human health and for this reason environment commissioner Stavros Dimas has identified air quality as an important priority. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has asserted that no level of exposure to particulates is safe.
The new air quality directive provided an option for member states to apply for an extension for particular geographical areas which, if they met the conditions, would delay the target for tiny airborne particles known as PM10. However, the UK government missed the deadline of 31 October last year to apply for an extension, showing either disregard for the legislation or recognition that it would not meet the conditions. To meet the requirements for an extension it would have had to demonstrate that serious efforts were made to achieve the standards in 2005, but that compliance was not possible due to external circumstances.
Instead, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has now launched a consultation on a planned application to delay meeting the PM10 standards until mid-2011. The consultation will cover eight geographical areas in the UK, including London. The intention is to send the application to the commission "as soon as possible" after the consultation has closed on 10 March.
Mitigation measures to counteract air pollution are currently being discussed by the UK government. However, this is in the context of the planned expansion of Heathrow airport and serious questions remain as to whether the proposals are actually feasible. I am at a loss as to how the government can even consider a third runway, bringing substantial additional air and road traffic to an area where air quality is already failing. Extensive mitigation measures must be introduced now to bring air quality to an acceptable standard and the Heathrow plan rejected outright.
Air quality is being ignored in the name of economic recovery and the creation of new jobs, but those jobs will not arrive soon, if indeed they arrive at all. Many will be vulnerable to consumer spending, while we might legitimately expect an increase in demand for the health and care sector as more people suffer severe respiratory problems.
The government should instead invest the funds for Heathrow expansion in high quality, affordable rail travel. It should protect and increase jobs in public transport, introduce and maintain cleaner and greener buses and even – in London – ensure the Crossrail project comes to fruition.
Breathing heavily polluted air is putting Londoners and other UK citizens at greater risk of developing asthma, other respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer and investing in air quality is a crucial social, as well as environmental, measure. Citizens’ health must come first and the government must make every effort to comply with the standards without delay.
To respond to the government’s consultation on the application to the European Commission for an extension to meet air quality limits for particular matter (PM10), go to
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2009/090127a.htm