Greeny News

Britain faces court cases and unlimited fines after dangerous levels of minute particles breach EU levels

• Comment: London, the dirty man of Europe
• Dave Hill: Where's Boris Johnson's air pollution study?

The City of London has been found to be one of the most polluted places in Europe after monitoring equipment recordeddangerous levels of fine particles in the 36 th time this year. Under EU rules, Britain allowed no more than 35 "bad air days throughout the year, and now there is litigation and an unlimited fine in Europe.

The breaching of the EU levels after just six months will embarrass the government, which was sent a final warning only three weeks ago from the European commission to improve air quality. Many other places in central London are close to the limit and can be expected to break the law within weeks.

The Government shall apply to Europe for a time extension until 2011 to carry out daily particulate pollution from traffic, but not sure, will be granted because it was the neglect of the EU air quality laws in 2005, and perceived environment commissioner Janez Potocnik to have done little to address the problem.

"Air pollution is bad for our health. It reduces human life expectancy by more than eight months on average and by more than two years in the most polluted cities and regions," he said.

London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said: "This latest breach is yet another wake-up call for the mayor of London and the government. Research has shown that airborne pollution in London could be responsible for up to thousands of premature deaths a year: this is an invisible public health emergency."

Poor air quality is now considered one of the biggest public health problems currently faced in the UK. A recent report by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee included evidence that air pollution could be contributing to 50,000 deaths in the UK a year. A study (pdf) commissioned by Boris Johnson, mayor of London, calculated that more than 4,300 deaths are caused by poor air quality in the city every year, costing around £2bn a year.

Simon Birkett, founder of the Campaign for Clean Air in London, Said: "From the first of many sites London violation of the statutory period until the end of June, it became evident why the European Commission sent to the UK the second and final written warning for violating the same law, each year since 2005 in London, less than a month ago, ".

Jenny Bates, London fought for the "Friends of the Earth , said: "Boris Johnson must abandon plans that will make the situation worse, such as scrapping the western extension to the congestion charge, pursuing more river crossings for vehicles and supporting a 50% increase in flights from City airport. This means taking strong action himself, rather than relying on uncommitted government measures to do the job."

A spokesperson for Johnson said: "This is one of several central London locations which will receive a targeted package of measures to tackle pollution, for example applying dust suppressants to road surfaces and deploying the cleanest buses into these areas. Other initiatives include proposed age limits for taxis, converting the bus fleet to hybrid and investing record levels into cycling.

\\ "We also proposed that dirty trucks and vans in London low emission zone in early January 2012. The new bus for London is 40% less polluting than conventional diesel and we are spending millions to support the main use of zero-clean electric cars."

The representative of Defra said: "The Mayor of London and the regions are responsible for local air quality in London. The mayor has issued a draft air quality strategy, which includes specific measures to reduce PM10 and NO2 pollution.

"We are confident that PM10 limits will be met in London by the 2011 deadline and the government has submitted evidence to the European commission to demonstrate this."