Government treats limit values with contempt by M4 bus lane
‘Clean Air in London’ (CAL) lodges formal three-part complaint with the European Commission ‘Part one’ of the Complaint is that the Secretary of State for Transport proceeded with the permanent removal of the M4 bus lane despite it causing aggravated, unmitigated and ongoing breaches of the NO2 annual limit value and without doing anything to ... Read more
Government admits widespread breaches of air pollution laws
34 of 43 UK zones breached the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) annual limit value in 2012 Cardiff has joined Leicester, North Wales, Nottingham and Portsmouth in breaching the terms of their time extensions. Bournemouth and Coventry failed to meet the pre-condition for theirs Levels of NO2 at long-running urban traffic locations have not improved since monitoring began 15 years ago ... Read more
Defra did cover-up smog warnings and would scrap local monitoring
Government covered-up three legally-required smog warnings in the fortnight after launching a consultation proposing the scrapping of local monitoring by others In two incidents, the Government: says another monitoring network is ‘separate’; and blames [sudden and] ‘worst case’ instrument malfunction/vandalism/power failure for another failure to issue an ‘Information alert’ required under UK and EU law. ... Read more
Thousands may be driving diesel vehicles illegally after Government failures
Tens of thousands of motorists may be driving diesel vehicles illegally and risk losing their insurance or resale value – many without realising it – after Government fails to protect them Government has confirmed it is illegal to use a vehicle on the road if it has been modified in such a way that it ... Read more
Government ‘cover-ups’ or legal breaches during consultation to scrap monitoring
Government’s four proposals to scrap or reduce Local Air Quality Management are unacceptable Government ‘covered-up’ and/or breached its legal duty to issue two separate ‘Information alerts’ to warn the public of smog just days after proposing to scrap local air quality monitoring by others Lord Berkeley forced Government to disclose UK air pollution (PM2.5) worsened ... Read more
EU (much) more ‘competent’ than UK Government on air quality
Call for Evidence: Environment and Climate Change Only the EU has competence to set Europe-wide product standards and environmental limits 75% of UK respondents to a recent Eurobarometer survey on ‘Attitudes of European towards air quality’ think that the EU should propose additional measures to address air quality problems. Only 16% of UK respondents said ... Read more
Carcinogenic diesel exhaust disclosed for every significant road in London
Clean Air in London used powerful European access to environmental information laws to obtain 1.5 million pieces of data from the Mayor of London. Thousands of pages published Top three worst roads in 2012 were A406 (North Circular), A282 (Dartford Crossing) and A13 (Commercial Road). Shoppers are being gassed in Oxford Street by Transport for ... Read more
Highest NO2 of any capital city in Europe again
Boris Johnson must act in ‘Green Week’ in the ‘Year of Air’ after failing miserably to reduce air pollution London again has the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a toxic gas, of any capital city in Europe according to the latest data published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) Marylebone Road monitoring station ranked ... Read more
Launch of ‘Clean Air in Cities app’ (2013)
‘World first’: Launch of Clean Air in Cities IndexTM (or Birkett IndexTM) and App to report the health impact on the population of long-term exposure to air pollution Over 100 MPs responded to a survey for ‘Clean Air in London’ by Politics Home. They were asked to ‘Rank the following risk factors in terms of ... Read more
M4 bus lane removal in disarray after another flawed consultation
TAG Unit 3.3.3c The Air Quality Sub-Objective Consultation makes mistakes of both fact and law, that are so basic that, in our view, the Consultation, in order to be meaningful, should be undertaken again ‘Clean Air in London’ (CAL) lodges formal complaint that the Department of Transport and/or Highways Agency have failed to respond to repeated ... Read more
Landmark legal victory for ClientEarth
Supreme Court declares UK in breach of nitrogen dioxide legal limits and refers case to the Court of Justice of the European Union Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, said: “Congratulations to ClientEarth on its landmark legal victory today. The team lead by James Thornton, Chief Executive, and Alan Andrews at ... Read more
‘Tube dust’: broken promises, ‘blind eye turned’ and duty breached
Promises broken about informing the public about ‘tube dust’ Mayor of London ‘turning a blind eye’ to repeated warnings from scientists and others of the dangers of airborne particles including in underground rail systems Mayor of London breaching ‘General transport duty’ to develop and implement policies for the promotion and encouragement of safe transport facilities Dear Mayor ... Read more
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The app shows current levels of ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) globally and the health impact of long-term exposure to PM2.5 for populations in England
