THE UK Government has spent almost £400,000 fighting efforts to force it to tackle illegal air pollution, it has emerged.
Legal fees for court cases brought by environmental law firm ClientEarth to make ministers take action to meet EU legal air quality targets amount to more than £380,000.
The figure, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, does not include the most recent court costs in the long running legal battle.
ClientEarth launched action against the government in 2011 over its failure to keep within European Union limits for nitrogen dioxide, winning rulings in both the High Court and Supreme Court.
It raised a fresh challenge last year after it considered plans demanded by the court for improving air quality were inadequate, and won a ruling that required new proposals to be published this year.
Ministers tried to delay the new draft plans because of the general election, but they were published in May and the final plans were unveiled last week.
Costs to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have reached £301,279, plus £81,834 in costs to ClientEarth. However, the figures do not include costs Defra was ordered to pay in the legal fight in April, which forced ministers to publish the plans.
James Thornton of ClientEarth said: "It is a poor reflection on successive governments that they chose to spend taxpayers’ money to fight court cases instead of getting on with the job of cleaning up our illegal air pollution."
The government said: "Reducing roadside pollution is a priority."
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