Pesticide campaigner wins ruling

Georgina Downs, a high-profile pesticide campaigner in the UK, saw her hard work come into fruition on Friday as the court ruled that the government has not acted to the best of its ability concerning pesticide guidelines.

It was concluded by Justice Collins of the High Court that pesticide spraying has posed a health risk to those living in proximity to sprayed fields and that the government has not done enough to ensure that they are protected.

He continued that there has been "a failure to apply the European Directive properly" and that "solid evidence that residents have suffered harm to their health" had been presented to the court.

Ms Downs, who runs the UK Pesticides Campaign, commented: "This is obviously a very significant and landmark ruling for the potentially millions of residents throughout the country who, like myself, live in the locality to pesticide sprayed fields".

The environments of UK cities have been put under the microscope recently as a report from Forum for the Future discovered that Bristol, Brighton and Hove possess the best air qualities in the country.