A preliminary review of local air quality management consultation practices in England

Abstract

Stakeholder participation in environmental risk decision-making processes is on the increase in the UK and EU member states. An example of this enhanced consultation requirement concerns the statutory requirement involving local authority declaration of Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs). This local air quality management (LAQM) consultation process represents one of the largest locally based environmental risk consultation exercises carried out in the UK. This paper rehearses and provides evidence from an intensive 2-year ESRC research project that has investigated the nature, scope and effectiveness of LAQM consultation approaches. In order to interrogate this environmental risk distribution, all 353 local authorities in England were surveyed, and 11 in-depth case studies were identified and executed. Our findings suggest that there are no simple solutions to the consultation dilemma. Local authorities are faced with a series of substantive challenges in contacting, engaging with, and incorporating the views of their diverse constituencies within the LAQM decision-making process. However, in order to assist local authorities in this process we have evolved a range of emergent ‘better practice’ parameters that build upon and operationalise our research findings.