Supreme Court Ruling on Air Quality
The supreme court has recently ruled on the UK Government’s duties to protect people from poor air quality, with the court ruling that the Government has failed to meet European outdoor air pollution limits.
This case was brought by environmental lawyers ClientEarth and has been welcomed by environmental campaigners.
The ruling could mean that the UK Government is eventually fined by the European Union, and that tackling poor air quality becomes more of a priority.
Nationally, air pollution is thought to cause 29,000 early deaths a year and has been linked to heart and respiratory diseases such as asthma.
The major source of UK air pollution is now emissions from traffic and the Government may now have to consider more radical actions to improve the UK’s air quality, including the promotion of low emission zones, which encourage the use of lower emitting vehicles, along with other measures
For those individuals who suffer from poor air quality, it is hoped that this ruling will provide the impetus for a welcome increase in resolve to tackle this important issue.
Care4Air will monitor subsequent developments with interest, and the question has been asked would it be best to avoid fines by spending this money on radical air quality actions?
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