Regulating Pollution: A Policy Approach

The policy aims to regulate industries, vehicles, and sources of pollution by making environmental audits mandatory, controlling pollution levels at the source, and tackling polluted areas. The regulatory authorities will monitor and enforce compliance with emission ceilings, while the environment department will measure pollution levels and implement initiatives under this policy. Non-compliance actions include fines, suspension of activities, and license cancellations. The policy also proposes specific instruments and budget for implementing measures to reduce or eliminate particulate matter pollution, which causes lung and heart diseases.

Environmental Law and Governance
Proposed Policy
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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Problem context..........................................................................................................................................2
The environmental issue of air pollution in UK....................................................................................2
The existing legislation and policies.....................................................................................................4
General actions and principles....................................................................................................................5
General actions and principles proposed by the law/policy................................................................5
Intended Impact of the law/policy......................................................................................................6
Parties targeted by the law/policy.......................................................................................................7
Actions for monitoring and addressing non-compliance.....................................................................7
Specific instruments and budget.................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10
References:................................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
There has been many policy initiatives, legislations, laws etc. that helps in dealing with the issue
of air pollution in UK. But, there are loopholes and drawbacks in many of them. So, the aim of
this report is to develop a policy proposal or a legislative initiative that details the principles,
standards and instruments as well as implementation strategy for action vis a vis the
environmental issue of air pollution in the country UK. The proposal begins with defining the
context of the problem of air pollution, and then lays the general actions and principles to deal
with the issue and finally, the proposal talks about the specific instruments and budget that will
be used to implement this policy in a proper manner.
Problem context
The environmental issue of air pollution in UK
The quality of the life of people is affected by the Air pollution, the noise that comes from the
traffic, the litter on the streets etc. When these things remain unchecked, the pollution gets built
up and then the anti-social behavior gets generated. This is a very serious crime as well as a very
serious issue. It has been estimated in UK that the annual cost of the noise that comes from the
road transport is almost £7-10 billion and also the authorities have found that there is a link
between the noise of the road traffic and the various illness that people suffer from like the heart
strokes and the heart attacks (Graf, 2016). There is a direct effect of the air pollution on the life
of the people and the well-being of the people is also affected. Almost 30,000 people die each
year due to the air pollution (Atkinson, 2015) and for the others, their life expectancy gets
reduced. Not only the humans, but the biodiversity also gets affected due to the air pollution like
the yield of the crops gets reduced and the climate changes, etc. The main cause of the air
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pollution is the emissions from the harmful pollutants and the increase in the concentration of the
harmful pollutants in the environment.
There are different forms of pollutants present in the air that are harmful for the life as well as for
the eco-system. There is a fine particulate matter present in the air that is capable of causing the
premature death and is also harmful for the cardiovascular system. This leads to increase in the
admission of the people into the hospitals and more number of people start visiting the
emergency wards of the hospitals due to the heart attacks and the heart strokes. Many people
become victims of the frequent asthma attacks too. The fine particles impair the visibility of the
people. These are mainly emitted from the gaseous emissions like the nitrogen oxides and the
sulfur dioxide. Then, the lead pollution in the air affects the neuro system of the children and
they suffer from the behavioral problems, the IQ level of the children reduces too and the adults
are faced with the high blood pressure and the various heart related diseases (Samoli, 2016).
Carbon monoixde which is again emitted from the vehicles is also a very harmful air pollutant
that causes many respiratory and heart disease among the people.
This is the main problem that the country is facing and apart from the air pollution caused by the
vehicles on the road, the country is also faced with the pollution which is caused by the
industries and the factories.
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The existing legislation and policies
There is an Environment Act enacted in 1995 which requires all the local authorities in UK to
review and assess the quality of air in their area (Lorenzoni, 2014). In case of any standards
being exceeded or not met in an area, the area gets designated as the Air Quality Management
Area and then it becomes the responsibility of the local authority to reduce the level of pollutants
there. The copies of the reviews and assessments are made by the local authorities regarding the
local air quality and it is made available to the public. They have to tell that which is the main
thing that contributes to the level of pollution and accordingly actions are taken against the
source of pollution. In December 2015, the government of UK launched a consultation on the
Local Air Quality Management, where the scope of the policy was expanded, and the aim was to
target the reduction of the PM2.5 emissions. The roles and the responsibilities of the local
authorities were redefined and they were strengthened.
There have been well-established international and the European standards of the air quality that
helps in monitoring and assessing the quality of air in the country UK and the emissions and the
concentrations of the air pollution are reported annually to the European Commission (EC)
(Heinzerling, 2013). Then, the country has also published its strategy on the national air quality
in two volumes since 2007. The strategy aims to work on the various fronts to improve the
quality of the air, like reducing the emissions from the transport, industries etc. (Guerreiro,
2013). The daily forecasts of the air pollution are published so that the health advice can be given
to the people accordingly and those who already suffer from the lung problems can take care of
their health.
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General actions and principles
General actions and principles proposed by the law/policy
The policy to control the air pollution in UK involves approaches in three forms and areas:
1. Policy to tackle the harmful pollutants in the air
2. Policy that controls the pollution at the source of its generation
3. Policy to tackle the polluted areas
Under the first approach, the policy proposes making the environmental audit mandatory where
the industries that create pollution submit their environment statements at the end of every year.
This will act as a regulatory requirement and the industries will become responsible for
abatement of the pollution too. In the first approach only, the policy proposes to improve the
quality of the fuel as per the specifications laid down by the experts. The experts have
recommended that the fuel used in vehicles should have a particular level of sulphur and gasoline
and the policy aims to follow those specifications in the fuel.
Under the second approach, the policy proposes to control the pollution level at the source of its
generation by specifying the standards as per which the pollutants will be discharged and the
emissions will happen. The industries pollute the air as much as they want and the more their
manufacture, more the pollution is created. But, when the standards of the pollution will be
specified, they will generate the pollution as per the standard specified and the control will be
able to get exercised at the point of generation of the pollution.
Under the third approach, the policy proposes to tackle the polluted areas and aims to monitor
the quality of the air in the different parts of the country. In this, the concerted efforts will be put
in those areas that are identified as polluted by the established agencies. He cleaning of the air in
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these areas will be carried out. These areas will be regulated and the limits will be set on the
release of pollutants. Also, these areas will be made vehicle free so that the further deterioration
does not happen. The regular inspections will be arranged here so that the business complies
with the regulations of the air pollution. In case these regulations are found to be violated, then
the inspector who will be responsible for the regulations will issue a notice against the polluter
and he will have to fix the problem and many also have to pay a fine in case the pollution is too
much.
Intended Impact of the law/policy
The first approach that aims to tackle the harmful pollutants in the air intends to limit the number
and quantity of the pollutants in the air. It intends to reduce the content of lead in the air, recycle
the wastes, reduce the content of sulphur and improve the industrial processes by introducing the
cleaner fuels. This policy also intends to make the industries responsible for abating the pollution
that they are creating.
The second approach to control the pollution at the source intends to minimize the generation of
the harmful pollutants that create pollution. The main aim of this approach is to save the
government and the pollution generators to make extra efforts in cleaning the air after it gets
polluted. If the pollution gets controlled at the time of generation only, then there will not be any
need for cleaning the environment and the time and cost will be saved.
The third approach that aims to tackle the polluted areas intends to clean those areas that are
already affected the most by this pollution. It is very important to save these areas from further
deterioration and thus this policy is important to implement. If these areas are not tackled, then
the pollution will keep on increasing here and the people who live here or are exposed to this
area will have to bear the causes of this pollution.
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Parties targeted by the law/policy
1. Industries- the industries that are involved in the process of manufacturing and they
release harmful substances in the air are targeted by this policy. This is because, they
need to be regulated and monitored for creating the pollution and they must be allowed to
create pollution up to a certain limit only.
2. Citizens- the people use and drive the vehicles on road those also contribute to pollution.
By regulating the gases used in the vehicles, these people are targeted indirectly. They
must be aware of the fact that they also contribute to the pollution in the air and they
should be sensitive to this issue. They should not be allowed to use too much vehicles
and they must also take care of the fuel that they are using in their vehicles.
3. The regulatory authorities- these have to be targeted because they are the ones who will
monitor and regulate the spread and emission of the pollution in the air. If they will do
their work carefully then only the policy will become useful to implement.
4. The environment department of the country- this department is targeted by the policy
because they have to measure the level of pollution and they have to take care of the
environment. So, if they are targeted then they will be involved with all the initiatives
under this policy.
Actions for monitoring and addressing non-compliance
The following actions will be taken if the parties do not comply with the requirements of the
policy:
 If the industries that create pollution fail to submit their environment statements at the
end of every year, then a fine up to 60% of their worth of manufacturing will be imposed
along with the suspension of the work till the time they abate the pollution or start the
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activities that will help in reduction of the pollution within 2 months from failure of
submission of the statements.
 If the fuel used in vehicles exceeds a particular level of sulphur and gasoline, as
specified, then the users of the vehicles will have to pay a fine for emitting extra
pollutants in the air. Also, the suppliers of the fuel will be penalized and their license to
sell the fuel will be cancelled for 3 consecutive years.
 The permits of generating pollution will be given under the second approach that will
depend on the type of the pollutants that are released in the air and the generation of
pollution has to be as per the permits granted. Any industry or factory that will be found
to generate pollution beyond the permit limit will be penalized with the fine according to
the limit that it crosses and the extent to which the damage to the air is caused. This will
be measured by the environment department. Also, in addition to the fine, the industry
will be given the task to clean the air for the area that it has polluted and for the five other
most polluted areas in the city.
Specific instruments and budget
This policy mainly aims to regulate the industries, vehicles, and the sources of pollution. The
policy proposes to make the environmental audit mandatory where the industries that create
pollution submit their environment statements at the end of every year, the policy proposes to
control the pollution level at the source of its generation by specifying the standards as per which
the pollutants will be discharged and the emissions will happen and the policy proposes to tackle
the polluted areas and aims to monitor the quality of the air in the different parts of the country.
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So, the main things that are to be taken care in this policy includes that the industries comply
with the emission ceilings and they generate pollution to a level as permitted. The emissions that
are mainly covered under this policy are the harmful particles that cause the deterioration of the
health of people and decay the biodiversity. These policies mainly focus to eliminate the particle
pollution which is also called the particulate matter. It is made of the small piece of the solids
and liquids that includes the dirt, dust, smoke, soot and the liquid drops. Some of these particles
are big and they are visible with the naked eyes. The industries are responsible for these
particles. When the people of the country breathe these pollutants, which are also called PM10
then they suffer form the lung and heart diseases (Godish, 2014). Thus, the policy focuses to
reduce or eliminate these particles from the air.
The ceilings of the emissions will be defined by the department of the environment as well as the
other regulatory authorities. They will not be fixed. The permits will depend on the level of
current pollution in the air and it will also depend on the urgency of the manufacturing activities.
For example, during the new year when there are a lot of crackers busted in air, then the permits
will be reduced and the permission to generate pollution by the industries and the fuels will be
reduced. This is because, there is already a lot of pollution in the environment and the industries
will add to it further. But, in case the goods need to be exported to other countries and the
balance of trade of the country is deterioration, so there will be requirement for more production
activities to take place. In this case, the permits will be increased and the industries will be
encouraged to produce more so that exports of the country rise. Also, when the manufacturing
will rise, there will be more need for transpiration and accordingly, the pollution from the
vehicles will rise. So, at that time, the authorities will not focus on tackling the source of
pollution or regulating the manufacturing activities of few industries, instead, it will focus on the
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abatement of the pollution and then the focus will shift from regulation to abatement. The
industries will also be encouraged to develop ways to abate the pollution and install the machines
that generate very less wastages and pollution.
The main instruments that will use to ensure the regulation is the fine and the suspension of the
activities and license to produce. This will ensure that the industries take care of tem
manufacturing activities and they do not try to break the regulations or the limits that have been
set by the respective regulatory authorities. This is a form of tax that they will pay if they
generate pollution beyond a particular level.
Conclusion
Hence, the issue of air pollution is big in UK and it needs to be controlled because the people and
the biodiversity of the country is suffering because of this. Thus, a policy has been proposed
which focus on the environmental audit, controlling the pollution level at the source of its
generation and tackling the polluted areas. This will be done by imposing the fine and the
suspension of the activities and license to produce. This will ensure that the industries take care
of tem manufacturing activities and they do not try to break the regulations or the limits that have
been set by the respective regulatory authorities.
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References:
Atkinson, R.W., Analitis, A., Samoli, E., Fuller, G.W., Green, D.C., Mudway, I.S., Anderson,
H.R. and Kelly, F.J., 2015. Short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and daily mortality
in London, UK. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
Godish, T., Davis, W.T. and Fu, J.S., 2014. Air quality. CRC Press.
Graf, C., Katsoyiannis, A., Jones, K.C. and Sweetman, A.J., 2016. The TOMPs ambient air
monitoring network–Continuous data on UK air quality for over 20 years. Environmental
Pollution.
Guerreiro, C., de Leeuw, F. and Foltescu, V., 2013. Air quality in Europe-2013 report. European
Environment Agency Rep.
Heinzerling, L., Mari, A., Bergmann, K.C., Bresciani, M., Burbach, G., Darsow, U., Durham, S.,
Fokkens, W., Gjomarkaj, M., Haahtela, T. and Bom, A.T., 2013. The skin prick test–European
standards. Clinical and translational allergy, 3(1), p.1.
Lorenzoni, I. and Benson, D., 2014. Radical institutional change in environmental governance:
Explaining the origins of the UK Climate Change Act 2008 through discursive and streams
perspectives. Global Environmental Change, 29, pp.10-21.
Samoli, E., Atkinson, R.W., Analitis, A., Fuller, G.W., Green, D.C., Mudway, I., Anderson, H.R.
and Kelly, F.J., 2016. Associations of short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution with
cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions in London, UK. Occupational and
environmental medicine, pp.oemed-2015.
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