The Treasury blocked other government departments from charging diesel cars to enter towns and cities blighted by air pollution, documents revealed during a high court hearing on Tuesday. Air pollution causes 50,000 early deaths and £27.5bn in costs every year, according to the government’s own estimates, and was called a “public health emergency” by MPs in April. Another political consideration was how quickly the EU would move to impose fines on the UK for illegally high air pollution. The Treasury’s approach in the face of the tragic toll of air pollution in this country was to oppose anything but the bare minimum as too expensive. “It is therefore not acceptable to hope that air pollution will fall at some point in the distant future.

Source: The Guardian October 18, 2016 13:03 UTC