Mayor of London joins air pollution legal proceedings as interested party
The Mayor of London has joined – as an interested party – a High Court challenge brought by environmental law charity ClientEarth against the Government over its plans for tackling air pollution.
Lawyers acting for Sadiq Khan have provided a written submission to the Court and the Mayor will in due course provide a witness statement.
ClientEarth was given permission to bring legal proceedings last month by a judge. It is seeking a judicial review of what it claims is the Government’s “repeated failure to tackle illegal air pollution”.
The charity previously won a Supreme Court case against the Government, with judges ordering ministers to produce new air quality plans.
Lord Carnwath, giving the judgment of the court, said: “The new Government, whatever its political complexion, should be left in no doubt as to the need for immediate action to address this issue.”
ClientEarth claims that the plans the Government subsequently produced in December 2015 would not bring the UK within legal air pollution limits until 2025 and were “woefully inadequate”.
The charity said in March that it would be asking the court to “strike down those plans, order new ones and intervene to make sure the Government acts”.
It said this week that Sadiq Khan had “thrown his weight” behind its legal battle.
ClientEarth lawyer Alan Andrews said: “London’s mayor agrees with us that more could and should be done to bring illegal levels of air pollution under control as soon as possible. He can help deliver a bigger and better ultra low emission zone for London, but we also need national measures that will benefit all those living across the UK who are being made sick and dying early because of air pollution.
“This is a national public health crisis and we need central government to provide a national solution. The Government is wasting time and money dragging this out in the courts. They need to come to the table with a serious plan showing how they are going to tackle deadly diesel pollution.”
A statement from the Mayor’s office said: “The Mayor has now set out his view that London can meet the legal standards for NO2 well before 2025, which is the date the Government’s Air Quality Action Plan projects London will be compliant.”
The Mayor expressed concern at research suggesting that Londoners living in the capital’s most deprived boroughs were up to twice as likely to die of lung cancer, asthma and other lung diseases than those who lived in more affluent parts of the capital.
