Note: The following letter was sent by The Knightsbridge Association not the Campaign for Clean Air in London: 3 January 2009

The Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn MP
Secretary of State
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR

3 January 2009

By registered post and email: hilary.benn@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Dear Secretary of State

Near record air pollution in central London in 2008

Secretary of State for Defra has a legal duty to ensure health based limit values are attained and not exceeded once attained

The Knightsbridge Association asserts its right to require the government to develop an action plan to improve NO2 and PM10 air quality in the short term

The Knightsbridge Association presses the Secretary of State to direct Mayor Johnson not to remove or weaken the western extension of the Congestion Charging Zone unless a stronger inner Low Emission Zone is put in place simultaneously upon its removal

Summary

I am writing on behalf of The Knightsbridge Association (the KA) to urge you, as the relevant Secretary of State, to ensure that the United Kingdom (UK) complies in full with air quality laws in the wider Knightsbridge area of London (and elsewhere throughout the UK).

The KA is an amenity society registered with the Civic Trust. It represents around 1,000 residents and businesses in the wider Knightsbridge area bounded broadly by Hyde Park Corner in the east and Queen’s Gate in the west. Brompton Road, Cromwell Road and Knightsbridge pass through this area. Our website address is:

www.knightsbridgeassociation.org.uk.

For a map of the local area, please see:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=brompton+road&countryCode=GB#map=51.49919,-0.16453|16|4&bd=useful_information&loc=GB:51.49919:-0.16453:17|brompton%20road|Brompton%20Road%20(A4),%20London,%20England,%20SW7

The KA is concerned about serious breaches of air quality laws in this part of London (and elsewhere). Local air pollution levels in 2008 were close to record levels. Annual mean levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were well over twice the maximum level recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and peak levels occurred some 427 times compared to the WHO’s maximum recommended frequency of 18 times. The KA estimates that annual average levels of particulate matter (PM10) in this area exceeded 40 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3) and may have approached 50 ug/m3. The WHO has stated that there is no safe level for exposure to particulate matter. This situation is clearly unsustainable and unacceptable.

European Union (EU) air quality laws required annual average levels of PM10 air quality to attain 40 ug/m3 from 1 January 2005 and for that level not to be exceeded once attained. These laws were transposed into UK law in the Air Quality Standards Regulations 2007 (AQSR 2007). These Regulations impose inter alia a statutory duty on you, as the relevant Secretary of State, to develop action plans to improve air quality in the short term. This duty was reaffirmed and clarified recently in a preliminary Judgement by the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The KA is hereby notifying you that it respectfully requests and requires in respect of the wider Knightsbridge area that you as Secretary of State: (i) prepare and implement urgently an action plan that is capable of reducing to a minimum the risk that the limit values for NO2 and PM10 will be exceeded and of ensuring a gradual return to a level below those limit values; and (ii) at least maintain air quality (where limit values have already been met), and otherwise comply in full with relevant air quality laws. Please note that the requirement that limit values must not be exceeded once attained is an absolute legal requirement.

The KA is concerned further that decisions may be taken by the Mayor of London and/or others during 2009 or subsequently which would adversely and illegally impact air quality in this area e.g. the possible removal or weakening of the western extension of the Congestion Charging Zone (the WEZ). In the KA’s carefully considered view, such a decision would inter alia worsen air quality where it has attained limit values for PM10 and thereby breach air quality laws unless at least directly offsetting measures were put in place simultaneously upon its removal. These measures might include dynamic road pricing (such as ‘tag and beacon’) and/or one or more inner Low Emission Zones (which will be needed anyway to ensure that air quality laws are complied with cost effectively). Please therefore issue ‘directions’ as necessary to the Mayor of London and/or others to ensure that relevant air quality laws are complied with fully.

The KA hopes, if you respond positively and energetically to this letter in respect of the wider Knightsbridge area and/or London as a whole, that its actions may set a valuable precedent and encourage other community groups in London (and elsewhere) to seek improvements in local air quality and reductions in air pollution generally.   more »