Non-Government Organisation, ClientEarth, won its case against the Government’s failure to battle air pollution across the UK, in High Court. The group claimed that the Environment Secretary had failed to tackle high air pollution around the UK in an efficient manner.
Mr Justice Garnham questioned Defra’s five year modelling, stating it was inconsistent with taking measures to improve pollution complying with EU directives. It was felt the Air Quality plan devised when LIZ Truss MP was Environment Secretary, was enforced with a schedule to avoid European Commission fines, rather than to deal with pollution as soon as possible. Mr Justice Garnham stated that evidence clearly demonstrates that clean air zones could be introduced more quickly than the government’s proposal of enforcement by 2020.
Defra claimed that plans had always been created following the latest and best available evidence but accepted the high court’s judgement.
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