Local authorities are unlikely to be able to tackle air pollution due to government cutbacks, as London continues to struggle to implement air qualityย controls.
Speaking at an event organized by the student-led Kings thinktank last week, IPPR research fellow Laurie Laybourn-Langton claimed โlocal authorities donโt have the moneyโ to address air quality issues, as government has โhollowed out the middles of these organisations, leaving them without time and space toย actโ.
He told DeSmog UK that the government has โsystematically stripped back the resources within the civil service and other areas of government in the last 6ย years.โ
โThis presumably would encumber their ability to develop and action a workable plan to bring air pollution within legal limits in the shortest timeย possible.โ
In August, a DeSmog UK investigation revealed that over half of 38 councils in England have cut staff dedicated to working on climate change sinceย 2011.
Laybourn-Langtonโs comments are particularly concerning in the wake of a new reportย from the European Environment Agency that shows Londonโs Marylebone Road, just 30 minutesโ walk from Thursday nightโs event, had the highest levels of nitrogen dioxide in Europe inย 2013.
It shows air pollution levels were an average 2.5 times the legal limit in theย area.
The report attributes 12,000 deaths in the UK to nitrogen dioxide pollution, which can affect heart and lung conditions and comes mainly from diesel vehicle emissions in urbanย areas.
The High Court recently ruled the government was not doing enough to tackle bad airย quality.
NGO Client Earth brought the case after the government prepared โvague proposalsโ that would have taken 9 years to secure compliance and relied on problematic emissionsย data.
The plan proposed only six clean air zones, despite 37 out of 43 zones having illegal levels of airย pollution.
The High Court ruled that the governmentโs timetable for delivering a new plan by September next year was โfar tooย leisurelyโ.
Main image credit: Mike Knell via Flickrย CC BY–SA
