AIR quality: everyone is talking about it at the moment and the government has just published a whole new strategy to tackle it, so what exactly is the state of play?

Environment reporter Pete Hughes trawled through the new plan to tells you everything you need to know.

EARLIER this month the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a new draft air quality action plan.

The Government was forced to draw up the new plan after environmental lawyers at campaign group Client Earth won a legal battle against it in November.

The group successfully argued in the High Court that the Government's existing plans were not doing enough to bring Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) levels in all UK cities down below the EU legal annual average limit of 40 micrograms per cubic metre (40 μg/m3).

High Court Judge Neil Garnham said the Government’s own figures show that NO2 pollution – primarily from diesel traffic – is linked to the premature deaths of 23,500 people a year in the UK.

The Government's new draft plan proposes 18 new actions – in addition to its ongoing efforts – to a) reduce NO2 emissions from the current road vehicle fleet, and b) accelerate road vehicle fleet turnover to cleaner vehicles.

The new proposed actions include 'mandating local authorities to implement Clean Air Zones within the shortest possible time'.

Currently the only organisation in the United Kingdom which has a legal responsibility to meet the EU air quality targets is the UK Government.

The government, in turn, has ordered local councils across the country to 'review and assess local air quality', declare any areas that break the EU legal limits and draw up action plans detailing remedial measures to address problem areas.

In Oxford, the council with that responsibility is Oxford City Council.

The problem is complicated by the fact the council which controls the roads and how they are used, even in Oxford, is Oxfordshire County Council.

Oxford City Council says that the average NO2 in the air across the city has fallen over the past decade and is now at roughly 35 μg/m3.

However levels in some parts of the city are still too high: the concentration in the most polluted road in the city – St Clements – rose three per cent between 2014 and 2015, from 65 μg/m3 to 67, way above the EU limit of 40 μg/m3.

Latest figures from Public Health England estimate that 276 deaths across Oxfordshire could be attributed to long-term exposure to air pollution, including NO2, in 2014.

The city and county councils have jointly invested £30,000 to investigate creating a zero-emissions zone in the city centre from 2020.

The new government plan, if approved, could legally oblige the city or county to take more action, in addition to other new national rules.

However, with the document still in draft stage and the government now consulting, it is not clear yet what the new obligations might be.

A county council spokesman said: "The report has only just been published and so we will be looking at it closely with the city council."

The city council, meanwhile, is now drawing up its response to the Government's draft plan.

Environmental stability manager Jo Colwell said in a statement: "We are carefully examining the government’s draft air quality action plan.

"The report is very detailed so we will be liaising with our county council colleagues to assess how this may impact our plans for Oxford.

"We will also be developing a response to the plan.

"Any plans that we develop will prioritise the health of residents and visitors in the most effective way possible."

The city council is also currently planning to roll out dozens of electric vehicle charging points across Oxford, in line with the government target for 'almost every car and van to be a zero emission vehicle by 2050'.