Government burns taxpayers money losing dirty air court cases

Press release
A freedom of information release obtained by Labour reveals that the Government has spent £500,000 losing clean air court cases
  Published:  05 Apr 2018    |      1 minute read

Jenny Bates, clean air campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said:

“Perhaps if the government spent as much time and money coming up with a decent air quality plan as it did briefing lawyers to unsuccessfully claim that current plans are adequate, we may see the progress we need when it comes to cleaning up the UK’s toxic air.

“There are tens of thousands of early deaths each year in the UK, simply because of the dirty, polluted air they’re breathing. Government action is too little, too late, and as a result people across the country are continuing to suffer unnecessarily.”

Friends of the Earth is calling for urgent government action to quickly and drastically improve air quality including:

  1. More Clean Air Zones than are currently being planned, which must come into effect as soon as possible. These must include all vehicle types, and be in place sooner than currently planned by the government. Effective Clean Air Zones will lead to fewer (and cleaner) cars on our roads, safer streets, more welcoming neighbourhoods and, vitally, healthier lungs for our children
  2. The UK must move away from high polluting diesel vehicles, with a government-led scrappage scheme (with significant funding from diesel manufacturers) to help people switch from the most polluting vehicles
  3. Investment in clean, affordable and reliable public transport
  4. An improvement in infrastructure to support alternatives to driving, such as safe cycling and walking routes
  5. Traffic generating schemes such as airport expansion and road building which would add to the air pollution problem must be scrapped