Targets on air quality made easier for councils

Targets to improve air quality have been lowered because achieving them would have been too difficult, the Environment minister Michael Meacher said yesterday.

The targets oblige councils to reduce levels of pollutants, in a move to extend the lives of thousands of people such as the elderly and children with breathing problems.

But the levels set are less stringent than those advised by the expert panel on air quality standards (Epaqs), which advised the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Mr Meacher defended the decision to be less rigorous than suggested by the Epaqs panel. "The aim of setting targets is to stretch what would otherwise happen. But there's no point making targets so tight that we're almost bound to fail," he said.

But the new targets – for particles (such as those emitted by diesel engines), carbon monoxide, benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – were condemned by environmentalists.

Roger Higman, senior transport campaigner at the pressure group Friends of the Earth, said: "These new targets won't make much difference, since almost every council is able to meet the existing ones, and London has easier targets, so the Government reckons it's OK to poison Londoners more than others."

The Government's previous set of targets, which were supposed to have been met by 2003, have been achieved. But this has partly been done by ignoring the limits in some large areas, including Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

These are described as "air quality management areas" because they exceed the set limits and the local council responsible is unable to meet them by any normal action. There are hundreds of these areas around England, and councils can define them where they wish.

Mr Meacher said London's targets for air quality differed from the rest of the country because it had so much road traffic, which caused 80 per cent of pollution.

"Putting the same limits on London as ... the rest of the country would mean virtually halting the use of vehicles in the capital," he said. "We know the Mayor is interested in using congestion charging, but stopping cars using London is unimaginable."

He agreed that local councils trying to meet the new limits could resort to congestion charging to reduce traffic. At least a dozen councils are monitoring Ken Livingstone's plan, which will come into force next year.

Mr Meacher said: "People don't like paying congestion charges. But the question is, does it work? If it does, local authorities have to make a judgement as to what level they might be prepared to put in place to achieve a given environmental benefit."

The targets would cut annual average levels of particles by half, from 40 micrograms per cubic metre to 20 micrograms by 2010. Daily levels would not be allowed over 50 micrograms per cubic metre more than seven times a year by 2010, compared with 35 times a year now.