UK councils 'worried' over air quality fines

Local authorities across the UK are concerned that they will be penalised over poor air quality in pollution hotspots such as central London, it has been claimed.

According to the LocalGov website, councils would like all EU fines for air pollution to be transferred to the authorities that fail to comply with legally-binding pollutant limits.

In December last year, the UK government saw its request for more time to meet the EU targets on air quality rejected by the European Commission.

EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas said that Greater London is now the only part of the country that falls foul of PM10, the 2005 EU directive on levels of particulate matter.

"The commission expects member states to clearly demonstrate that they are doing their utmost to comply with EU standards in the shortest possible time," Mr Dimas said.

A request for additional time to satisfy EU legislation on air quality was granted for five air quality zones in Poland last year, but Bulgaria also had a similar request turned down.

Posted by Claire Manning