High Court judge quashes DEFRA air quality plan over non-compliance

A High Court judge has this week quashed the Government’s Air Quality Plan 2015 over its failure to bring the UK into compliance with the law “as soon as possible”.

In ClientEarth (No.2) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2016] EWHC 2740 Mr Justice Garnham concluded:

i) that the proper construction of Article 23 [of the Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC] means that the Secretary of State must aim to achieve compliance by the soonest date possible, that she must choose a route to that objective which reduces exposure as quickly as possible, and that she must take steps which mean meeting the value limits is not just possible, but likely.

ii) that the Secretary of State fell into error in fixing on a projected compliance date of 2020 (and 2025 for London);

iii) that the Secretary of State fell into error by adopting too optimistic a model for future emissions; and

iv) that it would be appropriate to make a declaration that the 2015 AQP fails to comply with Article 23(1) of the Directive and Regulation 26(2) of the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010, and an order quashing the plan.

The claimant, environmental law charity ClientEarth, had previously secured a Supreme Court ruling that required ministers to produce a plan to bring air pollution down within legal limits as soon as possible.

ClientEarth then took the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs back to the High Court over those plans.

James Thornton, ClientEarth’s CEO, said: “I am pleased that the judge agrees with us that the government could and should be doing more to deal with air pollution and protecting people’s health. That’s why we went to court.

“The time for legal action is over. This is an urgent public health crisis over which the Prime Minister must take personal control. I challenge Theresa May to take immediate action now to deal with illegal levels of pollution and prevent tens of thousands of additional early deaths in the UK. The High Court has ruled that more urgent action must be taken.”

ClientEarth air quality lawyer Alan Andrews added: “We hope the new Government will finally get on with preparing a credible plan to resolve this issue once and for all. We look forward to working with Defra ministers on developing a new plan which makes a genuine attempt to achieve legal limits throughout the UK as soon as possible.

“We need a national network of clean air zones to be in place by 2018 in cities across the UK, not just in a handful of cities. The government also needs to stop these inaccurate Modelling forecasts. Future projections of compliance need to be based on what is really coming out of the exhausts of diesel cars when driving on the road, not just the results of discredited laboratory tests.”