Policy disconnect: A critical review of UK air quality policy in relation to EU and LAQM responsibilities over the last 20 years

Abstract

Air pollution is a significant global issue. In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared air pollution to be the world's largest single environmental health risk, with ambient air pollution causing 3.7 million deaths annually (WHO, 2014). The World Bank has also reported air pollution to be the fourth leading risk factor for premature deaths worldwide, resulting in 1 in 10 total deaths in 2013, at a cost to the global economy of about US$225 billion in lost labour income (World Bank and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2016). In urban areas, particularly in developed countries, road traffic is often the major contributor to local ambient air pollution and is largely responsible for elevated concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2), among other pollutants. Exceedences of the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) (AAQD) annual mean limit value for NO 2 , derived from WHO health-based thresholds, are widespread across much of the UK (and Europe). In 2010, when the annual mean limit value for NO 2 was to be achieved (and five years after the UK's own parallel domestic NO 2 objectives should have been met), the UK was in breach of regulations in 40 (93%) of its 43 designated zones and agglomerations. The UK Government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which is responsible for compliance reporting against the AAQD to the European Commission, applied for a Time Extension Notification (TEN) of five years for 24 of its exceeding zones and agglomerations in September 2011, leaving the remaining 16 areas of exceedence in breach of the AAQD, resulting in infraction proceedings launched by the European Commission against the UK government in February 2014. It is the European Commission's legal action against the UK government for its failure to achieve the annual mean limit value for NO 2 by 1st January 2010 st January 2010 as set in the AAQD, and the potential that this poses for the imposition of substantial fines by the European Court of Justice (CJEU) that set the policy context for the paper. Within this context, in the same year that the government applied for the TEN, the UK Localism Act 2011 (Part 2) introduced a legal framework enabling fines imposed on national government by the EU to be passed down to local government. On receipt of the

Rescaling Air Quality Management: An Assessment of Local Air Quality Authorities in the United States

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“…12 Local governments thus have the responsibility of assessing both current and future air quality based on emissions from various sources (ie, transport, industrial, and other 2 Air, Soil and Water Research significant sources), and where predictions indicate potential exceedances of national standards, the local government is required to designate Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) and prepare air quality management plans that compliment action taken at the national level. 1,13 Although European nations have been rapidly advancing opportunities for addressing human exposure to degraded air, promulgating regulations occurs in the socio-political context of each nation, and in the case of the United States, local authorities. In the United States, effective management is hampered by a regulatory framework that manages air quality at regional and national scales.…”

Exploring the potential for “urban air quality transition management” in the EU – lessons from the City of Aachen (Germany)

“…Results from other studies point in a similar direction. For example Barnes et al (2018) identified a "policy disconnect" in the UK and argue further that a "failure of EU and national air quality policies has effectively undermined local authority action to improve local air quality" (e.g. Euro vehicle standards, lack of accountability at the local level, inconsistent EU and national requirements).…”

“…The use of illegal defeat devices was compounded by insufficient type approval procedures on test stands and led to higher real world NO x emissions of diesel cars than expected. However, a disconnection of test stand and real-world emissions occurs even without manipulations (Barnes et al 2018;UBA 2018). In order to close this gap, new testing standards were implemented recently in the EU in terms of "realdriving emissions" (RDE) in combination with improved laboratory tests (EC 2017).…”

“Unfortunately, I Use My Car”: Commuter Transport Choices in Bristol, Uk

“…With 90% of the global population breathing polluted air, poor air quality is affecting populations in rural and urban areas across the developed and developing world [1]. The UK continues to exceed the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) (AAQD) annual mean limit value for nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) in at least thirty-seven areas of the country under the UK government's 2015 analysis of the situation [2]. Amongst these locations is Bristol, in the south west of England, a city with a population of just over 450,000 and ongoing exceedances of NO 2 [3].…”