Dr Jo Barnes Jo.Barnes@uwe.ac.uk
Professor of Clean Air
Policy disconnect: A critical review of UK air quality policy in relation to EU and LAQM responsibilities over the last 20 years
Barnes, J. H.; Hayes, Enda T; Chatterton, Tim; Longhurst, James
Authors
Enda Hayes Enda.Hayes@uwe.ac.uk
Prof in Air Quality & Carbon Management/School Director (Research & Enterprise)
Tim Chatterton
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Environment and Sustainability Jim Longhurst James.Longhurst@uwe.ac.uk
Professor
Abstract
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd This paper critically reviews United Kingdom (UK) air quality policy in relation to European and Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) responsibilities over the last 20 years. The arguments articulated in this paper highlight the gulf between national and local air quality management in the UK, including differences in legislation, legal responsibilities, scales of operation, monitoring and modelling requirements, exceedence reporting and action planning. It is argued that local authorities cannot be held responsible for the UK's failure to achieve the European Union (EU) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) limit values due to fundamental differences between local government responsibilities under LAQM and the UK compliance assessment reporting to the EU. Furthermore, unambitious and counterproductive national policies and the failure of EU light-duty vehicle type approval tests and Euro standards to reduce real-world emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) are the main reasons for continued NO2 limit value exceedences. This failure of EU and national air quality policies has effectively undermined local authority action to improve local air quality, resulting in delays in achieving the standards, wasted resources at local and national levels, and, ultimately, unnecessary loss of life and increased morbidity in the UK population. This paper concludes that the current emphasis that the UK government is placing on implementation of Clean Air Zones (CAZs) to achieve the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) (AAQD), and avoid substantial fines imposed by the European Court of Justice (CJEU), is flawed. Based on the arguments presented in this paper, a series of recommendations is proposed for the European Union, the UK government, devolved administrations and local authorities.
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Mar 24, 2018 |
Online Publication Date | Mar 30, 2018 |
Publication Date | Jul 1, 2018 |
Deposit Date | Oct 24, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 30, 2019 |
Journal | Environmental Science and Policy |
Print ISSN | 1462-9011 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 85 |
Pages | 28-39 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.03.024 |
Keywords | air quality policy, NO2, traffic pollution, public health, LAQM, EU limit values |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/857305 |
Publisher URL | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.03.024 |
Contract Date | Apr 10, 2018 |
Files
ENVSCI_2156_edit_report.pdf
(549 Kb)
PDF
You might also like
Air pollution and energy use in England and Wales - A social and environmental justice analysis
(2014)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Bristol Air Quality Masterclass Summary Report
(2014)
Preprint / Working Paper
Exploring the postgraduate ESD experience in UWE’s MSc Environmental Management
(2015)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Downloadable Citations
About UWE Bristol Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@uwe.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search