European Commission refutes Boris Johnson's air quality claims

The European Commission has moved to refute claims made by London mayor Boris Johnson that the city's air quality failings are down to the rest of the continent.

Johnson had suggested the reason certain parts of the capital had fallen below the EU's particulate matter (PM10) threshold was because of pollution being blown over from the mainland.

Under the current air monitoring rules, an area is allowed to exceed the PM10 level on 35 days of the year, but some parts of London are already close to surpassing this with less than four months gone.

European Commission spokesman for the environment Joe Hennon said the mayor's claims were unlikely to be true, as pollution shifts such as this are rare.

"Most of the time the dominant south-westerly winds in the UK transport the air pollution in the opposite way, i.e. from the UK to northern Europe," he remarked.

Meanwhile, the mayor has revealed plans to install 10,000 street trees across London are on track, although future planting could be endangered due to budget cuts.

Posted by Joseph Hutton