Whitehall racks up six-figure taxpayers’ bill over air pollution legal challenge

ALMOST £400,000 of taxpayers’ money has been spent by the Government on resisting attempts to force it to tackle illegal air pollution, a freedom of information request shows.

A series of court cases brought by environmental law firm ClientEarth to make ministers take action to meet European Union legal targets on air quality have amassed legal fees and costs totalling more than £380,000, new figures reveal.

The sum does not include the most recent court costs in the long-running legal battle, and the amount could rise further still if the Government’s final plans to clean up air pollution, which were published last week, prompt more legal action.

ClientEarth first launched action against the Government in 2011 and subsequent legal challenges have continued into 2017.

After the Government’s initial plans for improving air quality were challenged in the courts and then dropped, its final plans were unveiled last week.

ClientEarth chief executive James Thornton said: “It is a poor reflection on successive governments that they chose to spend taxpayers’ money to fight court cases instead of getting on with the job of cleaning up our illegal air pollution.”

Air pollution causes an estimated 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK and is linked to health problems from childhood illnesses to heart disease and even dementia.

A Government spokeswoman said: “Reducing roadside pollution is a priority for this Government, which is why we have committed £3bn to help towns and cities take action against harmful emissions caused by dirty diesels.”

In York, the city council is set to decide if two of the city’s three Air Quality Management Areas should be revoked after a six-year trend in air pollution reductions.

The council’s executive body will decide next week if schemes in the Salisbury Terrace and Fulford Road areas should be withdrawn in the next two years.