EU losing patience with UK over air quality

EU chiefs have warned the UK government that they will not tolerate any more breaches of air quality regulations.

Parts of London have already exceeded their maximum allocation of days that they are allowed to have excessive volumes of particulate matter (PM10) in the atmosphere this year.

Thus far, the EU has not punished the country, but the European Commission has said the body has now run out of patience and hundreds of millions of euros worth of fines could be handed out before the end of the year.

Chief executive officer of Environmental Protection UK James Grugeon believes the temporary measures put in place by the government in order to earn a reprieve from the EU are "experimental at best".

"We need proper long-term strategic thinking from across government to end the public health crisis cause by air pollution," he remarked.

The International Olympic Committee has already warned the city of London that huge fines could be dished out if the area has not seen an improvement in air quality by next year.

Posted by Joseph Hutton