Lawyers to sue Defra over air quality plans

A group of lawyers have opened legal proceedings against the government, after claiming its air quality policies are unlawful.

ClientEarth are looking to sue the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) over its latest proposals to cut pollution.

The team feel that the drafted plans are not sufficient in tackling the problem of nitrogen emissions, while Defra is also being challenged for failing to talk to the population before applying to the EU for a time extension in its attempts to clamp down on particulate matter output.

Chief executive officer at ClientEarth James Thornton said that successive governments have failed to clean up the UK's pollution despite the introduction of modern air quality rulings.

"By refusing to meet their responsibilities on air pollution their claim to be the 'greenest government ever' is disappearing in a cloud of toxic fumes," he commented.

Chief executive officer of Environmental Protection UK James Grugeon recently criticised temporary measures implemented by Defra to curb emissions, labelling them "experimental at best".