Policy Proposal: Addressing Air Pollution in the United Kingdom

This report presents a comprehensive policy proposal aimed at addressing the pressing issue of air pollution in the United Kingdom. The proposal begins by outlining the context of air pollution as a significant environmental concern, detailing its adverse effects on public health, biodiversity, and the economy. It then lays out general actions and principles, including mandatory environmental audits for polluting industries and the improvement of fuel quality to meet specific standards. The policy proposes a three-pronged approach: tackling harmful pollutants, controlling pollution at its source, and addressing polluted areas. Specific instruments such as emission standards and regulatory frameworks are discussed, along with a budget allocation for effective implementation. The report emphasizes the importance of reducing pollutants, promoting cleaner fuels, and minimizing pollution at the point of generation to mitigate environmental damage and improve public well-being. This work is a contribution to Desklib, a platform offering AI-based study tools and resources for students, including past papers and solved assignments.

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 (). 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 () 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
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 (). 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.

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 (). 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) (). 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. (). 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.
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,
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.
Parties targeted by the law/policy
Actions for monitoring and addressing non-compliance
Specific instruments and budget 700
Conclusion 100