PRESS RELEASE
12/11/14
For Immediate Release
Members of both Houses of Parliament call for an urgent Public Inquiry into air pollution in the UK
Last night John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington sent a letter to the Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee calling for an Public Inquiry into air pollution in the UK.
The letter, signed by 25 MP’s and Peers, was drafted by the Campaign for an Air Pollution Public Inquiry expressing growing concern at the insufficient action from Government and other agencies on this issue and calls for meaningful action to be taken to stop the thousands of deaths from air pollution each year.
The Government has failed to implement many of the recommendations of the Environmental Audit Committee’s previous report of 2011 which urged government to take immediate action. Numerous expert studies including a recent World Health Organisation Report have confirmed thousands of people throughout the UK are dying from Air Pollution.
The letter expresses concern that Government and Local Authorities have failed to implement effective Air Quality Strategies and that the EU will be forced to consider what action is to be taken for breaches of air pollution standards by the UK.
John McDonnell MP has today said:
‘In support of the Campaign for an Air Pollution Public Inquiry we are calling for urgent action from the Government in tackling the horrendous levels of air pollution in the UK. As is consistently shown from expert reports and campaigning groups, the dangerous levels of pollution in this country is having disastrous consequences for our communities. Despite the UK having one of the worst records of any European country for exceeding EU air pollution limits our Government has failed to take meaningful action. I support petitioners in calling for an inquiry in order to expose and overcome the obstacles which have been preventing action on this critical issue and to outline what needs to be done. ‘
Dave Davies of the Campaign for an Air Pollution Public Inquiry said:
’The Campaign for Air Pollution Public Inquiry is extremely pleased with the significant number of MPs and Members of the House of Lords who are supporting the call for an urgent Public Inquiry into the thousands of deaths from air pollution so that the cause can be established and proper action taken to reduce pollution. It is of serious concern that the Government and some leading politicians , including the Mayor of London have chosen to ignore the situation or worse still make claims that they have taken steps to reduce pollution , when in fact the air quality measurements clearly show that there has been no improvement in air quality and in fact the emissions per vehicle has actually got worse. It was recently confirmed by leading scientists that Oxford street is one of the most polluted streets in the world. Thousands of deaths continue each year because of the current and previous failed air quality strategies’’
ENDS