EU rejects UK plea for air quality standard extension

The European Commission on Friday rejected the UK's bid for extra time to meet
European air quality standards, raising the prospect of multimillion-pound fines for a number of the UK's worst pollution "hot spots".

The EU had already granted the UK an extension to comply with standards governing the release of particulate matter, but with London still in breach of the standards, the government had been forced to apply for a further extension until 2011.

However, the European Commission rejected the application on Friday, arguing that as other areas in the UK had managed to improve their air quality, there was no justification for continuing to make the capital exempt from the rules.

The Commission's letter stated that "all air quality zones except the Greater London zone were in compliance in 2008", adding that the "air quality plan for this particular zone did not meet the minimum requirements of the Directive for a time extension".

The London mayor's draft Air Quality Strategy was based on the assumption that the extension would be granted, and aims for compliance with the standards by 2011. As a result, the UK could now be subject to an EU fine of up to £300m.

Darren Johnson, chairman of the London Assembly and member of the Green Party, called on mayor Boris Johnson to urgently update the air quality strategy. "The mayor must rewrite his draft Air Quality Strategy to bring forward measures to close major roads during bad air pollution periods and to introduce stricter rules on vehicle emissions in the central London pollution hotspots," he said.

He also called on the government to help fill the £70m funding gap in the mayor’s current plans to reduce air pollution, and to consider overruling Johnson's policy to delay action against polluting white vans and the abolition of the western extension of the congestion charge.

"The government and mayor can still avoid the fine and protect the health of Londoners if they unite and agree a new set of radical anti-pollution measures, " he said.

His comments were echoed by Laura Gyte, Friends of the Earth's solicitor who opposed the UK's request for an extension of its exemption period. "The UK has known about these limits for years – we are delighted that the EU has rejected the government's bid to carry on polluting," she said. "All relevant public bodies must now urgently get on with the important job of ensuring that UK air quality standards designed to protect health and the environment are met."