The UK government is being urged to implement a national network of clean air zones and take action to curb diesel car take-up.

The UK government is being urged to implement a network of ‘clean air zones’.

That was the message from ClientEarth lawyer Alan Andrews to a Commons Select Committee yesterday (13 December) as he gave evidence to the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee in Parliament.

The call from the environmental lawyers came after they won their air pollution case against the Government last month. Now the Government has been ordered by a High Court judge to draw up a revised plan by July 2017 to bring air pollution within legal limits.

Speaking to MPs, Alan Andrews said ClientEarth was not calling for a blanket ban on diesel cars, as this oversimplified the issue. However, he highlighted the fact that the government could not rely on diesel cars meeting legal pollution limits on the road as all the evidence showed that they were failing to do this.

“We need a range of measures to disincentivise diesel, including a scrappage scheme and changes to vehicle excise duty,” he commented.

He also called for the Government to carry out a proper investigation into the use of so-called ‘defeat devices’ by other manufacturers in the wake of the VW emissions scandal, and added that the London Mayor should work with the Government to push for reform of the Euro 6 scheme at EU level and develop a ‘clean car label’ based on how much pollution cars emit under normal driving conditions.

Earlier this week a group of health professionals gathered in London to launch the Doctors Against Diesel campaign, calling for diesel fuels to be banned in urban areas and to be progressively phased out elsewhere.

According to research by Kings College London, over 9,400 people die each year in London because of air pollution. Recent modelling found that nearly 40% of all NOx emissions and PM10 pollution within London comes from diesel vehicles.