Darren Johnson, Green Party member on the London Assembly, has expressed his concern for Londoners, after the European Commission granted the UK more time to meet air pollution health standards.
The EC will now require the UK government and Mayor of London to draw up a set of emergency plans to reduce harmful air pollution emissions or suspend activities that cause pollution in central London.
The Commission also refused to withdraw two written warnings issued to the UK about its failure to meet the European limit values for particulate pollution.
If the UK fails to reduce pollution this year, the government could face an estimated £300m fine.
Darren Johnson said: "The reason the European Commission have taken the unprecedented step of requiring a set of emergency plans to be drawn up is that they simply don't trust the UK government and Mayor to protect the health of Londoners."The Mayor of London has damaged the UK government's case by taking a series of backward steps on air quality."
Observing that the Commission's attempt to get an emergency plan B in action is only necessary because of Mayor Boris Johnson's dithering, which has made pollution worse, Darren concluded:
"Rather than introduce ad hoc, and chaotic, traffic bans, the Mayor should immediately restore the western extension [to the congestion charge zone], reinstate twice yearly inspections of black cabs, and introduce a very low emission zone which only allows the cleanest vehicles to enter central London.
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Text of the European Commission ruling:
"The Commission therefore finds that no objection should be raised to the exemption, provided that the air quality plan is adjusted to include short-term measures effective for controlling or, where necessary, suspending activities which contribute to the risk of the limit values being exceeded.
"The competent authorities should ensure that those measures or, if appropriate, a short-term action plan within the meaning of Article 24 of Directive 2008/50/EC are in place by 11 June 2011 at the latest.
"The adjusted air quality plan including the short-term measures, or if appropriate, the short-term action plan shall be communicated to the Commission by 30 November 2011 at the latest."