News

At the Institute for Air Quality Management AGM on 17 November in central London, Martin Williams and Simon Birkett led a discussion on future EU air quality legislation, given the planned revision of the Air Quality Directive in 2013, and the on-going consultation. This was not a review of poor air quality at present, but about how we thought Europe should legislate in future to bring about air quality improvements e.g. are Directives too prescriptive, improving guidance, incorporating new science etc. Simon Birkett (Campaign for Clean Air in London) and Martin Williams (Kings College London and formerly Defra) introduced the topic. Their presentations appear on the resources page.

The European Union has developed comprehensive legislation in order to protect health and environment from the harmful effects of air pollution. The most important pieces of legislation include the air quality directives, the national emission ceilings directive and directives that address sector emissions. In October 2011 the Commission initiated a consultation on the Air Quality Directive and the Fourth Daughter Directive to which the IAQM responded. Our views are summarised here.

On 9 June 2011 Defra published a Consultation on Air Quality Plans for the achievement of EU air quality limit values for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the UK. The consultation closed on 5 August 2011. The Institute for Air Quality Management submitted one of the 42 responses. On the 19 September Defra published a summary of the issues raised in the consultation and the Government’s response. Defra and the devolved administrations will submit plans to the European Commission seeking postponement for up to 5 years from January 2010 of the compliance date for the NO2 limit value. In addition it will explore all possible actions to progress towards full compliance for those zones in the UK where compliance by 2015 cannot be demonstrated.

The Health Protection Agency has published a report, on behalf of the Department of Health, on the research recommendations from a workshop on nitrogen dioxide. The workshop explored what research is needed to more confidently answer scientific questions about the possible direct adverse health effects of exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The report is available here.

The Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee has launched a new inquiry into air quality in the UK to assess progress since the Committee’s previous report in March 2010, in particular to assess whether the Government is developing an effective strategy for meeting its obligations under the EU Air Quality Directives for particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The IAQM has submitted this evidence.