Britain's government must publish proposals to tackle air pollution months earlier than it wanted, a top court ruled Thursday, saying the plans can not be delayed until after June's general election.
Garnham also told the government the modelling it had used for its plans was overoptimistic.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom has told MPs it was "not appropriate" to publish the plan now and pledged to unveil the draft proposals on June 30.
He said that the draft plan must be published on May 9 to allow for any changes following the local government elections which take place on May 4, with the date for the final plan unchanged on July 31.
"It is an issue in this election whether the Government publishes the consultation or not".
It claimed the publication breached purdah rules, banning government announcements with controversial implications during the run-up to elections.
Gareth Redmond-King, head of energy and climate at environmental group WWF, said he was pleased the court had ruled the decision "is far too important to delay".
He said the application was made with considerable reluctance and was not "some sort of guise or demonstration of lack of commitment to improving air quality".
"If you publish a draft plan it drops all the issues of controversy into the election ... like dropping a controversial bomb", said Eadie.
Genyo Takeda, creator of Punch-Out!!, retires from Nintendo
In 2015, Takeda became the "Technology Fellow" at Nintendo, the counterpart to Shigeru Miyamoto's title of "Creative Fellow". The motion-controlled console was far from Takeda's only accomplishment at Nintendo.
The ruling follows a lengthy court battle between environmental law firm ClientEarth and the government to deliver an air quality plan to bring the United Kingdom back into compliance with European Union air quality rules.
Under the EU's Air Quality Directive, member states were supposed to comply with nitrogen dioxide limits in 2010 - or by 2015 if they delivered plans to deal with high levels of the gas, which is produced mainly by diesel engines.
There has been speculation the government's clean air plan could include potentially controversial measure such as charges for motorists to drive diesel vehicles, which cause much of the pollution, in towns and cities.
However, ClientEarth argued that with or without the publication of the plan, air quality is likely to be high on the agenda during both election periods, being a key matter of concern for both the public and the media.
Defra's application centred on the argument that launching the plan for consultation could restrict input from local authorities due to imminent local council elections.
"The controversy is there and isn't going to be put on hold by not putting out the consultation document", ClientEarth counsel Nathalie Lieven QC said.
"We're delighted with today's decision".
That judgment ordered ministers to come up with a plan to bring down air pollution to within legal limits as soon as possible.
It comes after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs attempted to postpone publication until after the general election on June 8.
Comments