Air quality: governments woo the motor industry with dire results
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Version 0 of 1. The scandal over rigged tests by car manufacturers is entirely consistent with their past record (“Corporate cheating kills. It must be stopped”, leading article). In the 1980s, the battle to remove lead from petrol and to fit catalytic converters was vigorously opposed by the motor industry, which raised all sorts of technical problems that turned out to be groundless. Even so, both measures were passed by a Tory government under Margaret Thatcher. Nowadays, the Department for Transport emerges as a complicit partner in the rigging of tests, while Defra and the Department of Health seem to have abandoned completely their role as guardians of public health. Margaret Thatcher had a science degree from Oxford University. I’m not sure that this cabinet has a scientific qualification between them.Dr Robin Russell-JonesFormer chair, Campaign for Lead-Free AirStoke PogesBucks Notwithstanding the efforts by British government ministers to block air pollution legislation and the recent revelations about VW’s trickery, surely the simplest answer is better public transport using electrical traction (“Revealed: documents show how British ministers tried to block European moves to clean up the air quality of our polluted cities”, News). Governments have sought to ingratiate themselves with the motor manufacturers and oil companies to the detriment of public health. The answer in cities and suburban areas is trams and trolley-buses. Here in Bristol we could use the old railway lines that used to thread their way into the city, before Beeching and Marples ripped them up – another example of wanton government lack of foresight.CF WallerBristol According to Will Hutton, the problems highlighted by Volkswagen will not be solved by “a reflex call for stronger unions and public ownership” (“VW is further evidence that global business has become a law unto itself”, Comment). My first port of call in the Observer is to read Will Hutton’s articles and over the years I have noticed that he has a distinctive“reflex call” of his own. The Hutton Reflex is to plead for companies to accept a moral ethic of mutual responsibility that binds them to society and the Companies’ Reflex is to ignore whatever Will Hutton suggests.Ivor MorganLincoln The mayor of London has implemented the most ambitious and comprehensive set of measures to improve London’s air quality, with the world’s first ultra-low emission zone at its centre. The capital now meets legal limits for eight out of nine EU regulated pollutants, measured concentrations of NO2 are down 12% and the numbers of Londoners living in areas that are above NO2 limits have been halved. London now has the cleanest bus fleet in Europe, with 1,200 hybrid buses, and he has retired 6,000 of the oldest, most polluting taxis. The recent revelations about VW cheating on emissions tests emphasises the need for Brussels to enforce its own standards properly on diesel cars. It is the failure of the EU’s diesel engine standards that has led to NO2 limits being breached by most major European cities, so perhaps Sadiq Khan should aim his criticism where it is more warranted: Brussels.Matthew PencharzDeputy mayor for environment and energyCity HallLondon SE1 |