Archived press release

Poo! what a choker! 1999 grim year for air quality: traffic cuts demanded

17 January 2000

UK air quality in 1999 showed the biggest deterioration since modern records began, Friends of the Earth revealed today. The news will embarrass the Government, which is backing down from Election promises to cut traffic levels on Britain's roads. Only five months ago, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott hailed the 1998 figures as showing “the biggest improvement in air quality since records began” [1].

Friends of the Earth used Government data and methods to calculate an Air Quality Indicator for 1999. This shows, for key monitoring sites around Britain, the average number of days on which air pollution levels were above the Government's air quality standard. John Prescott has called it a “key quality of life indicator” [2]. Road traffic is the major source of air pollution in the UK [3].

The number of days in 1999 on which air pollution exceeded health standards rose by 20% in urban areas and 53% in rural areas over 1998. In 1999, pollution levels were above health standards on average 1 day in 8 at rural monitoring sites and 1 day in 13 at urban monitoring sites. This is the biggest deterioration in air quality since records began in 1993.

The Government has refused to set a national traffic reduction target, despite the fact that 430 MPs have called for him to do so including 92 of those in Labour's 100 most marginal seats [4]. Mr Prescott has said he will weaken the Government's target to cut levels of deadly particles, which kill up to 8,100 people every year [5]. The Department of Health has estimated that up to 24,000 people a year may die prematurely because of air pollution.

Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth's Air Pollution Campaigner, said:
“Air pollution showed a record deterioration in 1999 yet the Government is failing to tackle the problem. The Government is refusing to set a target for traffic reduction,despite demands from no less than 430 MPs. Instead Mr Prescott says he will weaken a key air quality target. Parents, pensioners and asthma sufferers will be furious that the Government is pandering to the roads lobby while they choke.”

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] See DETR Press Notice 848 “Prescott announces record improvements in air quality” (25 Aug 99).

The headline air quality indicator is based on data from a selection of Government monitoring sites - 34 in urban areas and 15 in rural areas. The pollutants included in the indicator are nitrogen dioxide, ozone,particles, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. The indicator calculates the average number of days per site when levels of any of these pollutants reached the Government's 'moderate' band for air pollution or higher.

Urban sites used to calculate the headline indicator are: Belfast Centre, Birmingham Centre, Birmingham East, Bolton, Bristol Centre, Bury Roadside, Cardiff Centre, Edinburgh Centre, Glasgow Centre, Glasgow Kerbside, Hull Centre, Leamington Spa, Leeds Centre, Leicester Centre, Liverpool Centre, London Bexley,London Bloomsbury, London Brent, London Camden Roadside, London Eltham, London Haringey Roadside, London Hillingdon, London North Kensington, London Sutton Roadside, Manchester Piccadilly,Middlesbrough, Newcastle Centre, Nottingham Centre, Port Talbot, Salford Eccles, Sheffield Centre,Southampton Centre, Swansea and Wolverhampton Centre.

Rural sites used are: Aston Hill (mid Wales), Bush (mid Scotland), Eskdalemuir (South Scotland), Great Dun Fell (Cumbria), Harwell (Oxfordshire), High Muffles (North Yorkshire), Ladybower (Derbyshire), Lough Navar (Northern Ireland), Lullington Heath (East Sussex), Narberth (Pembrokeshire), Rochester (Kent),Sibton (Suffolk), Somerton (Somerset), Strath Vaich (North Scotland) and Yarner Wood (Devon).

Figures for each site for the last three years are shown overleaf.

DAYS OF MODERATE OR HIGHER AIR POLLUTION 1993 - 1999

* A negative figure indicates an improvement in air quality, and a positive figure indicates a deterioration in air quality

[2] The Government's Air Quality Indicator is one of 14 'headline' indicators of sustainable development announced last year.

[3] Road transport is responsible for 48% of UK emissions of nitrogen dioxide, 26% of particles, 2% of sulphur dioxide and 74% of carbon monoxide. Ozone is a secondary pollutant, produced by reactions between nitrogen dioxide and hydrocarbons. Road traffic is responsible for 38% of UK emissions of hydrocarbons.The share of pollution produced by road traffic will be significantly higher in towns and cities.

[4] Marginal Labour MPs marginal seats who have demanded national traffic reduction targets are listed on page 4 of this release

[5] On 25 August, 1999, Mr Prescott proposed to weaken the target for small particles in the National Air Quality Strategy by allowing the standard (50 g/m3 average over 24 hours) to be exceeded 35 times every year rather than 4 times every year by the end of 2004. Small particles current lead to 8,100 early deaths every year (Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants “Quantification of the Effects of Air Pollution on Health in the UK” Department of Health 1998.

NUMBER OF DAYS OF MODERATE OR HIGHER AIR POLLUTION 1997 - 1999

MARGINAL LABOUR MPs WHO HAVE DEMANDED NATIONAL TRAFFIC REDUCTION TARGETS

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust