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Summary

Beverley Nielsen is anAssociate Professor & Executive Director of the Institute for Design, Economic Acceleration & Sustainability. She is an I D E A S Senior Fellow, Centre for Brexit Studies at Birmingham City University and a district and county councillor. 
Additional research support provided by Clark Higgins. 

 In her case study, focusing on the rural County of Worcestershire, Beverley Nielsen discusses the diverse challenges of implementing effective clean air policies within a two-tier local government framework and sets this within the context of broader air quality and environmental issues such as standards for air monitoring, adverse health impacts of low-quality air, electric vehicles, public transport, local funding and active travel. 

In built-up, large urban areas the need to address the issue of ensuring a ‘cleaner air’ environment is now largely recognised by both policy-makers and residents alike.

We hear a lot about cities tackling poor air quality and the use of Ultra Low and Zero Emissions Zones with some considerable success. In London the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), one of the largest in Europe, launched in 2008 and has, since then, expanded in size to an area 18 times larger than when originally opened. Between 2016 and 2019 the London ULEZ had achieved a 44% reduction in roadside NO2 emissions, a 15% reduction in PM2.5s and 96% of vehicles in the ULEZ became compliant compared to 48% in 2017. With 95% of vehicles in the ULEZ driving elsewhere in the UK, these emissions reductions inevitably reached communities far beyond London itself. 

Generally though, air quality is not yet seen as such a major issue in smaller towns and more rural areas.  Most local councillors will hear some concerns from residents about air quality but in rural communities, like Malvern Hills in Worcestershire, these will likely be a very small amount in comparison with the complaints about traffic, delays to commutes and congestion, road quality (potholes and pavements), street lighting and parking. 

As we look ahead to Clean Air Day on 15th June this year, it’s notable that whilst many residents and visitors might think that at certain times of day the air quality is not as good as it might be, few seem prepared to take any proactive steps to complain, in spite of the growing body of evidence regarding the impact of poor air quality on our health. 

There is, however, a growing awareness amongst researchers and policy makers that the quality of the air even in more rural areas has the potential to adversely affect the populations’ health – for example, congestions and idling vehicles outside schools at drop-off and pick-up times potentially causes distress for those already suffering from pre-existing health conditions, such as asthma. We don’t know exactly how many children have this condition, but with over 74,000 children attending our schools and using national estimates that around 1 in 11 children suffer from asthma, it’s likely that almost 7,000 pupils are affected. What we do know is that hospital admissions for lung disease have risen three times over the past seven years and the NHS in Herefordshire and Worcestershire recognises this as a ‘huge contributing factor to winter pressures facing the NHS’.