Assessing air-quality impacts in planning decisions in England: should we focus more on health?

Stephen Peckham

doi:10.3828/tpr.2021.6

Abstract

While there has been an increasing recognition of the health impacts of air pollution assessment of air quality and health impacts is rarely adequately reviewed in planning decisions. Planning decisions are generally based on meeting national annual average air quality targets despite substantial evidence that levels below these are harmful to health and references to population health impacts in the UK National Planning Policy Framework and Environmental Assessment Guidance for planning. This article reviews the current framework and discusses how air quality has been taken into consideration in some recent planning decisions and legal appeals. Problems in assessing air quality in planning decisions and the increasing evidence on the long and short-term impacts of poor air quality are highlighted. The article concludes by arguing that health impacts should be more clearly addressed when considering air quality assessment setting out some potential approaches to how this could be incorporated in the planning process.

Highlights

Air quality has become a topic of significant concern in recent years due to increasing evidence of the detrimental public health impact of air pollution, emissions from traffic
Recent reports have highlighted the significant adverse health impact of poor air quality which accounts for some 64,000 premature deaths in the UK every year and that the cost of poor health related to air pollution has been estimated at £20bn in the UK each year (APPGAP 2020: 6)
Sub-nationally, local government has responsibility for air quality measurement and is the planning decision-making authority. This division of responsibility creates a weakness in ensuring air quality objectives are met (Barnes et al 2018). This aim of this paper is to explore the degree to which air quality, and its health impact, is considered Local planning authorities (LPAs) during the decision process

Summary

Introduction

Air quality has become a topic of significant concern in recent years due to increasing evidence of the detrimental public health impact of air pollution, emissions from traffic. Local planning authorities (LPAs) must adequately consider air quality impacts of development on population health.

Results

Conclusion