1. Our right to clean air: Taking stock and looking forward
Dominic Phinn – Business Engagement
Katie Nield - UK Clean Air Lawyer

2. The lifelong impacts of air pollution

4. Taking stock: the legal framework for action

5. Central government responsibilities…
Directive 2008/50/EC
Article 13 – sets limit values
Article 23 – requires air quality plans to keep the period of exceedance “as short as possible”
Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010
…establish the Secretary of State as the responsible authority
Pollutant
Period
Limit values
(μg/m3)
NO2
1 year 40
1 hour
200 (18x/year)
PM10
24 hours 50
(35x/year)
PM2.5 25

6. Air quality plans must…
aim to achieve compliance as soon as possible;
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.
(per Garnham J, ClientEarth (No.2)

7. Cost can only be secondary to efficacy….X
“…I reject any suggestion that the state can have any regard to cost in fixing the target date for compliance or in determining the route by which the compliance can be achieved where one route produces results quicker than another. In those respects the determining consideration has to be the efficacy of the measure in question and not their cost” per Garnham J, ClientEarth (No.2)

8. Local Authorities play a part…
Part IV, Environment Act 1995 LAs must review and assess air quality Where national standards and objectives are not met, LAs must …designate AQMAs …draw up “action plans”
Pollutant
Period
Objective
(μg/m3)
NO2
1 year 40
1 hour
200 (18x/year)
PM10
24 hours 50
(35x/year)
PM2.5 25

9. Local authorities have been pushed centre stage…
s85 Environment Act 1995
The SoS has the power require action from LAs “appropriate for the implementation” of the Directive
Ministerial directions have been issued to
61 English LAs
2 Welsh LAs
…requiring each to come up with its own proposals for local measures to reduce NO2
…but the Secretary of State remains ultimately responsible for ensuring that the air quality plans that result are up to scratch.

10. “the 5” “the 23” “the 33” Birmingham Leeds Southampton Derby
Nottingham
Basildon Borough Council
Rochford District Council
Bath and North East Somerset Council
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
Rushmoor Borough Council
Salford City Council
Bristol City Council
Sheffield City Council
Bury Metropolitan Borough Council
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Coventry City Council
Surrey Heath Borough Council
Fareham Borough Council
Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
Guildford Borough Council
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council
Manchester City Council
Middlesbrough Borough Council
New Forest District Council
Newcastle City Council
North Tyneside Council
Ashfield District Council
Oxford City Council
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
Peterborough City Council
Plymouth City Council
Blaby District Council
Poole Borough Council
Bolsover District Council
Portsmouth City Council
Bournemouth Borough Council
Reading Borough Council
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Broxbourne Borough Council
Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
Burnley Borough Council
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council
South Gloucestershire Council
Cheltenham Borough Council
South Tyneside Council
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Kirklees Council
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Leicester City Council
Sunderland City Council
Liverpool City Council
Wakefield Metropolitan Borough Council
Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council
Walsall Council
Oldham Council
City of Wolverhampton Council
15 Sept
31 Dec
5 Oct

11. What we have seen so far Newcastle: ?Class D CAZ? Leeds: Class B CAZ
Manchester: ?Class B/C CAZ?
Sheffield: ?Class C CAZ?
Derby: ??Traffic management??
…many yet to come
Delays
A bit of a mess
London ULEZ
Birmingham: Class D CAZ
Bath: ?Class C CAZ?
Southampton: !Class B CAZ!

12. Reasons to be cheerful? Reasons to be less than cheerful?
Some CAZ commitments
Delays
Row-backs (Southampton and Bath)
Lack of coherence
Central government in- action

13. Is this working?

14. No2pe... NO2 Particulate Matter
In out of 43 zones did not comply with legal limits
In out of 43 reporting zones still don’t comply
In UK cities exceeded the World Health Organisation guideline for PM2.5

17. Michael Gove SoSEFRA, 18 April 2018
What is going wrong?
The LAQM in and of itself has proved ineffective
Successive national air quality plans have been declared unlawful
Trend of reliance on local measures/decision-making
The Government "should not have been in a position where ClientEarth had to take us to court."
Michael Gove SoSEFRA, 18 April 2018
Action is not coordinated. Silo-d.
Planning and development control are filling the gaps [ref Shirley]

18. Legal limits for PM are too weak…
Pollutant
Period
WHO guidelines (μg/m3)
EU AAQ Directive limit values (μg/m3)
PM10
1 year 20 40
24 hours
50 (not more than 3 x/year)
50 (not more than 35 x/year)
PM2.5 10 25
25 (not more than 3 x/year)
No limit value

19. Looking forward: new (and improved?) legislation

20. “The UK government will introduce new legislation outlining a strengthened, up to date legislative framework for tackling air pollution”
Clean Air Strategy, Jan 2019
“We will introduce an environment Bill, and clean air will be part of that Bill”
Theresa May, 18 July 2018

21. Working towards WHO guidelines
“We will reduce PM2.5 concentrations across the UK, so that the number of people living in locations above the WHO guideline level of 10 μg/m3 is reduced by 50% by 2025.
Clean Air Strategy, Jan 2019
Good to see, BUT
What about the other half of the population?
Policy commitments are not enough to ensure govt is accountable
Stronger legally binding limits are needed to make cleaner air for all more than a “nice to have”

22. A more effective framework for action?
“New legislation will create a stronger and more coherent framework for action to tackle air pollution” “This will include an up to date legislative framework for tackling air pollution at national and local level” Clean Air Strategy, Jan 2019
BUT, with rhetoric focusing on more local powers, do we risk running into an old acquaintance…?
Mention net gain???

23. Filling the post-Brexit governance gap
BUT this risks being more…
than…
“we will create a pioneering new system of green governance, establishing an Office for Environmental Protection, to ensure we succeed in leaving the environment in a better condition than we found it”

24. Any questions? www.clientearth.org