Public Health England (PHE) has today, Monday 11 March
2019, published a review of evidence on how
to improve air quality in the United Kingdom.
The review informs local and national government on actions to
improve outdoor air quality and health.
Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in
the UK, with between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year attributed
to long-term exposure. There is strong evidence that air
pollution causes the development of coronary heart disease,
stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer, and exacerbates
asthma.
Professor Paul Cosford, Director of Health Protection and Medical
Director at PHE,
said:
Now is our opportunity to create a clean air generation of
children, by implementing interventions in a coordinated way.
By making new developments clean by design we can create a
better environment for everyone, especially our children.
Key interventions local authorities can take include:
- promoting a step change in the uptake of low emission
vehicles - by setting more ambitious targets for electric car
charging points, as well as encouraging low emission fuels and
electric cars
- boosting investment in clean public transport, as well as
foot and cycle paths to improve health
- redesigning cities so people aren’t so close to highly
polluting roads
- discouraging highly polluting vehicles from entering
populated areas - for example, with low emission or clean air
zones
This work could involve designing wider streets, or considering
using hedges to screen against pollutants when planning new
infrastructure.
Professor Cosford said:
We recommend that at a local level, any new policy or programme
of work which affects air pollution should aim to deliver an
overall benefit to the public’s health.
So transport and urban planners will need to work together,
with others involved in air pollution to ensure that new
initiatives have a positive impact.
Decision makers should carefully design policies, to make sure
that the poorest in society are protected against the financial
implications of new schemes.
National government policy can support local actions by creating
the right incentives. These include policies which promote
vehicles with low exhaust emissions or allow controls on
industrial emissions in populated areas to take account of health
impacts.
Background
Public Health England was commissioned by the Department of
Health and Social Care (DHSC) to review the
evidence for effective air quality interventions, and provide
practical recommendations for actions to improve air quality.
PHE’s review built on
the Air quality plan for
nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in UK (2017) from the Department
for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)
and the Department for Transport (DfT).
The review also built on Air pollution: outdoor air
quality and health (2017), published by the National
Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE),
which focussed on transport related interventions - to include
other pollutants and reviews of interventions in industry,
agriculture, transport and planning and behavioural change.
PHE’s review supported
the development of Defra’s
final Clean Air
Strategypublished in January 2019.
