Actions to comply with EU air quality law

Today, I raised a motion at the Full Council Meeting in Glasgow's City Chambers to push for action on air pollution. There are ongoing concerns from residents living in and around the Byres Road/Dumbarton Road Air Quality Management Zone. The following motion was agreed by all councillors:-

Council notes that the European Union (EU) has set legally binding limits for levels of major air pollutants under an ambient Air Quality Directive and this directive will be under review in 2013, the European ‘Year of Air’. Since 1999, EU legislation has required the UK, as a Member State, to achieve annual mean and daily limit values for PM10 (by 1 January 2005) and annual mean and hourly limit values for NO2 (by 1 January 2010).

Council acknowledges that the UK now faces the possibility of huge fines for not meeting legally-binding European standards on air pollution. Glasgow is recognised as one of 40 air quality assessment zones in the UK which have exceeded their permitted NO₂ limits in 2010.

Council must protect the health of its citizens and ensure full compliance with UK and European air quality laws throughout Glasgow. Therefore, Council agrees to call on the Scottish Government and UK Government to work together and take the following five actions to ensure the UK fully complies with EU air quality law by 2015:-

1. Fund a national campaign raising public awareness of the impacts of air pollution on health, the causes and solutions.
2. Launch a cross-department strategy to tackle air pollution that is led by the UK Cabinet Office, ensuring action on air pollution is included in all relevant departmental business plans by 2013 and includes independently monitored performance measures with incentives and penalties for departments involved.
3. Introduce a national framework for Low Emission Zones (LEZs), providing local authorities with the support, both funding and through policy guidance, to establish LEZs in urban areas by 2014.
4. Fund further research into the health impacts of air pollution through an appropriate independent body such as COMEAP (Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution)
5. Immediately cease all activities seeking to postpone or delay action on meeting legally binding EU air quality standards, or attempting to weaken those standards in the run up to and during the 2013 European Year of Air. 
   
   Useful Link:
   Healthy Air Campaign UK - http://healthyair.org.uk/