Londoners at risk as Johnson suspends low emission zone measures, panel told

• Campaigners say mayor's decision will affect 107,000 people• Air quality is 'worst in Europe'
Hélène Mulholland
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 February 2009 18.09 GMT

Boris Johnson's decision to suspend the next phase of the low emission zone (LEZ) could leave more than 100,000 Londoners at risk of breathing in dangerously high levels of pollution, it was claimed today.
Simon Birkett, from the Campaign for Clean Air in London, warned that the mayor's decision could also undermine the UK government's efforts to secure an extension on EU air quality standards.
Birkett told the London assembly's environment committee that the mayor had yet to come up with alternative measures to lift 107,000 Londoners at risk of high nitrogen dioxide levels, following his decision earlier this week to suspend the third phase of the LEZ, subject to public consultation.
First introduced last year by Johnson's predecessor, Ken Livingstone, the LEZ is a key measure designed to improve air quality by encouraging the replacement of high polluting vans and lorries with new models that met the required emission standards.
The scheme currently targets buses, coaches and the most polluting lorries over 3.5 tonnes. Failure to meet the required emissions standards leads to a £200 daily charge, or a £1,000 daily fine if the charge is not paid.
Phase three of the scheme was scheduled to start in October next year and would have affected 90,000 smaller vehicles, including vans and minibuses. A daily £100 charge was due to be imposed on those that did not meet the emissions standards.
Birkett told the panel that a consultation paper by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the UK's application to the European commission for an extension to meet air quality targets relied in part on the London congestion charge as well as full implementation of the LEZ.
As well as suspending the next phase of the LEZ, Johnson had previously announced he intended to scrap the western extension of the congestion charge, subject to a public consultation.
"If there is action to remove or weaken either, it takes away some of the planks in that," said Birkett.
The European commission last week started infringement proceedings against the UK for failing to comply with levels of particulate matter, which are dangerous airborne particles emitted by industry, traffic and domestic heating.
The UK's formal application for an extension to meet the standards by 2011 will be submitted to the European commission by March.
Birkett said: "It's important to emphasise here there is a disjunction which the government has created because it carries the obligations for [EU] limit values (air quality standards) and the mayor and local authorities outside London have a duty to work towards the obligations, not comply with them. One could be a busy fool and meet its obligations and the government is left in the lurch because it has not complied with its obligations."
Birkett told the panel that congestion charging held a "double benefit" – not just by reducing exhaust particles from reduced traffic, but also the toxic particles generated by breaks and tyre-wear.
Also giving evidence, Professor Frank Kelly from Kings College London, told the panel that poor air quality can "drive people to an early death".
Air quality in London is the "worst in Europe", partly because London was a mega-city with several million vehicles, many of them run on diesel. "We are at the top of the league table," he told the panel.
This contributed to the premature deaths of those who already suffered from serious illnesses, he said. The impact of poor air quality in effect "mimics" many aspects of respiratory diseases," he added.
He also informed the panel that studies in California and the Netherlands suggest the elderly and children are the most vulnerable to public health consequences of poor air quality. Lung growth in children exposed to higher levels of pollutions is decreased and never seems to catch up, leaving them in adulthood with 70-75% of their natural lung capacity, the committee was told.