The UK's Silent Crisis: Air Pollution. Where is the legislation?
There is currently a major health crisis ongoing across the UK; air pollution. Thousands of deaths every year are attributed to the illegal levels of pollution that is present in major cities such as Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and especially London. As this crisis gets worse, what can legal legislation do to restore clean and safe air?
The following facts show how serious this issue is; two thirds of all children in the UK are currently breathing in polluted air that is at dangerous levels and far exceed the legal limit. This covers all of London, in which all the boroughs breached the legal pollution limit as well as cities across the UK. As these cities grow and population density increases, the future of air pollution look quite dismal. The impact that these levels of pollution will have on children who breath it for years is something that is hard to imagine. Due to this, it is imperative that legislation is immediately introduced to control the levels of pollution and safeguard people from the devastating effects that long term inhalation of such air will inevitably have.
The mass levels of air pollution that are currently present in UK cities do not become as visible as it did during the Great Smog but that absolutely does not mean that the level of pollution is not as high. It is estimated that 40,000 people die prematurely annually due to the levels of air pollution. Poor air quality has been linked to lower levels of development for children and for the elderly polluted air can stiffen arteries and damage lungs. Dr Lao Xiang Qian of The Chinese University of Hong Kong stated that “Air pollution is the world’s largest single environmental health risk,”
Air pollution is a problem affecting countries across the globe. In European countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain air pollution levels have also reached dangerous and illegal levels prompting the European Commission to take action and propose definitive legislation to solve this crisis. However, as the UK is to leave the EU and will probably not be bound by any legislation that the EU may introduce it will likely lead to a delay in the solution for the UK's air pollution crisis.
Uniquely, the US, which usually has quite lax regulations, has actually been strikingly more effective in solving their air pollution problem than European countries. Ever since the Clean Air Act of 1970, many major American cities have significantly reduced air pollution due to a combination of federal and state legislation. However with the US having pulled out of international climate change agreements it remains to be seen if the progress the US has made in clearing up its air is to be reversed.
At the present moment, air pollution has the potential to become the deadliest health crisis of our time and one that can devastating effects on the next generation who will have grown up breathing dangerous and illegal amounts of polluted air. Therefore it is imperative that the government introduce legislation immediately that tackles this problem head in a determined way.
Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced a 25 year environment plan which aimed to tackle a wide range of environmental issues and to bring into reality plastic free supermarkets in addition to eradicating the use of all harmful plastics by 2040. This plan has seen some fruition for example food and drink retailers have introduced a plastic straw ban. These plans were applauded by environmental organisations and charities across Europe, however, despite these advances the government did not include the increasingly worrying issue of air pollution that is so prevalent in the UK.
The following facts show how serious this issue is; two thirds of all children in the UK are currently breathing in polluted air that is at dangerous levels and far exceed the legal limit. This covers all of London, in which all the boroughs breached the legal pollution limit as well as cities across the UK. As these cities grow and population density increases, the future of air pollution look quite dismal. The impact that these levels of pollution will have on children who breath it for years is something that is hard to imagine. Due to this, it is imperative that legislation is immediately introduced to control the levels of pollution and safeguard people from the devastating effects that long term inhalation of such air will inevitably have.
Due to the air pollution not manifesting itself in a visible form for people to see, it has become an issue that has been easily overlooked. Problems such as the excessive use of non degradable plastics manifest themselves as mountains in landfills and as landfills in the middle of the ocean. However, air pollution is not seen visibly and as such becomes a silent killer. To prove this point, the first legislation dealing with air pollution was introduced in 1956 with the Clean Air Act following the Great Smog of 1952 which shrouded London and directly caused the death of over 4000 people. It took a physical manifestation in the form of a great smog and the deaths of thousands to introduce legislation to attempt to limit the level of air pollution.
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| The visibility of Hong Kong's skyline on March 22, left, and June 17. |
The mass levels of air pollution that are currently present in UK cities do not become as visible as it did during the Great Smog but that absolutely does not mean that the level of pollution is not as high. It is estimated that 40,000 people die prematurely annually due to the levels of air pollution. Poor air quality has been linked to lower levels of development for children and for the elderly polluted air can stiffen arteries and damage lungs. Dr Lao Xiang Qian of The Chinese University of Hong Kong stated that “Air pollution is the world’s largest single environmental health risk,”
It is self evident that air pollution is a major threat to the public and that decisive legislation is required to reduce levels to at least to be within legal boundaries. The yearly air pollution limit was breached only after four days and this proves undeniably that current legislation is inadequate.
Experts such as Dr Lao Xiang Qian have stated that the most effective way to tackle the issue is through legislation that can be enforced and campaigns designed to alert the public about the true situation of the air they breath in. ClientEarth, a group of environment activist lawyers, have sued the government three times as each time the government have drawn up plans it has been wholly inadequate. ClientEarth accuse the government of going back on their word on clean air zones in major cities who suffer the most from air pollution by changing plans from "mandatory" to "expected". And in those 45 locations across the UK where air pollution levels are at illegal levels, no specific action has even been suggested.
At the current moment, a lot of the air pollution comes from petrol and diesel powered vehicles and this means that there needs to be substantial change in transport in the coming years. In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan has made changes to bus routes to reduce pollution in London's hotspots and thanks to this in 2017 there has been a significant reduction in air pollution in those areas as compared to 2016.
But petrol and diesel vehicles will have to be phased out if there is to be any real change in the levels of air pollution. The Government has stated that they aim to halt the sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 as well as allowing a 22 year transition period in which the country can prepare for a new generation of vehicles. However, as these new generation of vehicles will almost certainly be electric, the National Grid has warned on multiple occasions that the level of electricity that will be required to power an entire nation of electric cars will require extraordinary levels of investment in the National Grid system. This could require a new wave of wind farms and nuclear power stations to give the supply that will be required in the future. ClientEarth have also stated that for local authorities to implement proposed transport initiatives (such as this in Leeds) that may solve this problem, they first require clear legislation from the Government.
Experts such as Dr Lao Xiang Qian have stated that the most effective way to tackle the issue is through legislation that can be enforced and campaigns designed to alert the public about the true situation of the air they breath in. ClientEarth, a group of environment activist lawyers, have sued the government three times as each time the government have drawn up plans it has been wholly inadequate. ClientEarth accuse the government of going back on their word on clean air zones in major cities who suffer the most from air pollution by changing plans from "mandatory" to "expected". And in those 45 locations across the UK where air pollution levels are at illegal levels, no specific action has even been suggested.
At the current moment, a lot of the air pollution comes from petrol and diesel powered vehicles and this means that there needs to be substantial change in transport in the coming years. In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan has made changes to bus routes to reduce pollution in London's hotspots and thanks to this in 2017 there has been a significant reduction in air pollution in those areas as compared to 2016.
But petrol and diesel vehicles will have to be phased out if there is to be any real change in the levels of air pollution. The Government has stated that they aim to halt the sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040 as well as allowing a 22 year transition period in which the country can prepare for a new generation of vehicles. However, as these new generation of vehicles will almost certainly be electric, the National Grid has warned on multiple occasions that the level of electricity that will be required to power an entire nation of electric cars will require extraordinary levels of investment in the National Grid system. This could require a new wave of wind farms and nuclear power stations to give the supply that will be required in the future. ClientEarth have also stated that for local authorities to implement proposed transport initiatives (such as this in Leeds) that may solve this problem, they first require clear legislation from the Government.
Air pollution is a problem affecting countries across the globe. In European countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Spain air pollution levels have also reached dangerous and illegal levels prompting the European Commission to take action and propose definitive legislation to solve this crisis. However, as the UK is to leave the EU and will probably not be bound by any legislation that the EU may introduce it will likely lead to a delay in the solution for the UK's air pollution crisis.
Uniquely, the US, which usually has quite lax regulations, has actually been strikingly more effective in solving their air pollution problem than European countries. Ever since the Clean Air Act of 1970, many major American cities have significantly reduced air pollution due to a combination of federal and state legislation. However with the US having pulled out of international climate change agreements it remains to be seen if the progress the US has made in clearing up its air is to be reversed.
At the present moment, air pollution has the potential to become the deadliest health crisis of our time and one that can devastating effects on the next generation who will have grown up breathing dangerous and illegal amounts of polluted air. Therefore it is imperative that the government introduce legislation immediately that tackles this problem head in a determined way.
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