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The UK’s Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) commences with a Review and Assessment which may lead to the declaration of an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) where an exceedence of the Air Quality Objectives is confi rmed. A declaration initiates the development of Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) intended to provide solutions to the identifi ed problems. There is no doubt that the LAQM framework has delivered a clear picture of elevated air pollution at specifi c locations in the UK, defi ned in temporal and spatial scales. However, the evidence to date suggests that delivering solutions to air quality problems is much more problematic, and has not been achieved at the rate expected when the framework was introduced in 1997. Despite the national policy intention and direction provided through the framework, the probability of achieving the traffi c-related Air Quality Objectives by the set dates in the UK Regulations is uncertain. Using evidence from several studies undertaken by the authors, this paper considers the implication of distinct policy disconnects which are present in the LAQM process. The key conclusion implies transition from procedural compliance with the diagnostic process of LAQM towards a more holistic approach that will require new means of internal communication and co-operation and external consultation at the local and central government level and the ability to confront political and economic vested interest.

The second round of the Local Transport Plan (LTP2) process in England presents unique challenges and opportunities for integrating Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) within current transport planning policy. Using content analysis of LTP2 documents from nine English authorities, and results from a questionnaire survey of local government officers undertaken in late 2007, this paper charts the changes in the integration of air quality management within the transport planning process since 1997. While substantial improvements in policy integration were observed within the selected case studies, the paper demonstrates that such improvements are often constrained by institutional complexities that create implementation gaps between national objectives and local decision-making outcomes.

This paper explores the operation of air quality action planning within the framework of UK air quality management with particular reference to the key actors and actions. The paper examines the intentions of action planning policy and reflects on the role of local government in achieving these intentions. A review of primary sources and peer-reviewed literature identifies some of the barriers to action plan implementation and explores why these barriers remain in place after more than a decade of action. As a nationally mandated but locally operated policy, it is argued that there is a mismatch between ambition, powers and effects. The paper concludes with an exploration of the opportunities to reconceptualise and re-energise the air quality action planning process in order to provide appropriate protection for public health. © 2012 WIT Press.

This paper provides an overview of the emergent public health risks attributable to air pollution in Lagos and solutions to reduce them. Growing evidence has substantiated a causal relationship between air pollution and mortality, hospital admissions for respiratory or cardiovascular disease and an associated increased risk of myocardial infarction. Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria with a population of 15 million has been identified as one of the fastest growing megacities with annual mean concentrations many times higher than the thresholds recommended by the WHO. Given the urban conglomeration of Lagos, this paper shows that differential traffic density, socio-economic conditions, access to healthcare and proximity to sources of emissions create differential susceptibility of communities to ill health attributable to air pollution, especially within vulnerable groups including children, the elderly and pregnant women. The paper therefore argues that an understanding of the scale and spatial variation of air pollution is not sufficient for reducing the risks posed to public health. An effects-based approach needs to be adopted in order to frame air pollution problems in the city within a public health context, rather than as an environmental nuisance. © 2012 WIT Press.

Since 1988 the Nigerian Government has introduced environmental legislation aimed at reducing the atmospheric impact of various sources of pollution. Emphasis has often been placed on mitigating pollution from the oil and gas industry. However, various studies indicate significant ambient air pollution from other sources due to vehicular traffic growth in urban areas, increased reliance on petrol and diesel fuelled generators for electricity supply in homes and other public facilities, uncontrolled open incineration of waste and major thermal power stations within the city limits. In this paper, we make the case for the establishment of risk-based air quality management approach based on monitoring, modelling and assessment of these other sources. We outline four important elements that should be considered in order to achieve this recommended approach. These elements are conceptualised within the existing institutional, organisational structures and capacity in Nigeria. © 2011 WIT Press.

Despite 14 years of UK Local Air Quality Management (LAQM), ambient NO concentrations have not decreased as expected. Although NO concentrations decreased from 1996 to 2002-4, this trend has subsequently levelled off. The UK Government has failed to meet European Union (EU) limit values for NO and PM and risks incurring fines of ~£300m. The number of local authorities (60%) having declared Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs), primarily for traffic-related pollutants (NO and PM ), has grown steadily since 2001, and despite the production of local Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs) there have been no traffic-related AQMA revocations solely on the basis of their implementation. The UK Air Quality Strategies (1997-2007) have focussed on emission reduction technologies to reduce overall pollutant concentrations, whilst LAQM targets specific local hotspots often through air quality measures in Local Transport Plans. The failure of this system to achieve necessary NO reductions has been attributed in part to a reliance of national policy on Euro vehicle standards, without significant endeavour to reduce road traffic growth. Locally, deficiencies in funding, interdepartmental communication, political will and public awareness, have been criticised for hindering action plan measures. The UK Government's localism agenda threatens to reduce the top-down governance of LAQM whilst also introducing the potential for EU fines to be passed to local authorities where limit values are exceeded. At the same time, the UK Government has outlined changes that will put more emphasis on the development of local measures to achieve EU limit values. This paper discusses the potential for local action to achieve the limit values and concludes that further work is necessary at a national level to assist local authorities in this aim. © 2011 WIT Press. 2 2 2 10 2 10 2

The UK has operated a sophisticated Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) regime since 1997. This comprises two distinct phases: Review and Assessment and Action Planning. The Review and Assessment is the diagnostic phase and concludes with declaration of an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) where Air Quality Objectives (AQOs) are exceeded, which then initiates the Air Quality Action Plan intended to provide solutions to the identified problems. More than half of UK local authorities have one or more AQMAs. Air Quality Action Plans are expected to define measures and timescales by which air quality in the AQMA will comply with AQOs. The main source of the air quality exceedence is traffic-related NO or PM . The Review and Assessment phase is effective at diagnosing air quality problems but the Air Quality Action Plan phase cannot yet be judged to be a successful policy intervention. Local authorities have limited powers to initiate direct actions amid concerns about the political impact of measures that will the process affect the car-driving public. In such circumstances local authorities have been unable to get traction on air quality management problems. Central to the LAQM regime is the division of responsibility between central government and local government. Whilst LAQM is a local responsibility, central government's has an overarching role in controlling the regime through framing the process, defining national goals, setting strategic directions, and ensuring appropriate resourcing for national and local actions. Despite this national process guidance and direction local authorities are failing to achieve local air quality improvements at the rate expected when LAQM was introduced. This paper considers the implications of two distinct policy disconnects present in the LAQM process. The first of which is that between the spatial and temporal diagnosis of poor air quality and the solution proffered in the Air Quality Action Plan. Secondly, the disconnection between local actions and the strategic direction and policy intentions offered by central government. A number of changes to the process of LAQM are recommended to reconnect the policy disconnections identified in this paper. © 2010 WIT Press. 2 10

Since 1997, Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) has been used as a process through which local authorities in England identify and manage specific air quality problems within their jurisdictions in order to achieve the air quality objectives (AQO). However, the limitation of this process is that of policy disconnect between diagnosis and solutions proffered within it. Over 90% of air quality ‘hot-spots’ identified through the LAQM are due to traffic-related sources. Hence, the air quality action plans prepared by the environmental health officers (EHO) are improperly calibrated as a policy instrument for tackling most of the problems discovered through the LAQM. The inclusion of air quality as one of the four shared priorities in the second round of the Local Transport Plan (LTP2) therefore implies that the EHO need to engage with the transport planners (TP) at the local level in order to address most of these problems i.e. traffic-related air pollution. Since LAQM and LTP operate as two parallel frameworks with a separate agenda and timetable, adequate connectivity between both policy packages is thereby dependent on the type and level of inter-professional engagement between the departments and officials responsible for both policies at every level of government involved. This paper presents emerging issues from the questionnaire survey of EHO and TP in over 200 local authorities in 2007 as part of a three-year investigation into the effectiveness of achieving the AQO through the LTP in English local authorities. While there is wide support for the achievement of AQO through the LTP, the two groups identified differences in time-scale for delivering both policies, prioritisation of air quality within LTP, and unequal expectations as major factors affecting the integration. These factors indicate the existence of institutional complexities between parallel policy communities in ensuring integration.