King’s College London have responded to Defra’s proposals on the future of local air quality management in England.

The consultation, draft statutory instrument and impacts assessment can be found on the Defra website at: DEFRA website. The consultation closes on 30th January 2015.

The UK needs an air quality management system to effectively respond to twenty-first century public health challenges caused by modern urban air pollution. The societal cost of ineffective or non-action cannot be ignored. The response by King’s is structured around the questions in the consultation document, beginning with the statutory instrument and then the consultation and impacts statement. Our response to question 3 in the consultation document is divided into seven thematic areas:

• Streamlining of reporting requirements
• Air quality management areas and action plans
• Local authorities and PM2.5
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities
• Evidence based policy
• The importance of local assessment and community engagement
• National frameworks for local action

The full response can be found here.

Further background on Defra’s proposals can be found on the Air Quality Bulletin website.

The response from Environmental Protection UK can be found here

The response from Sussex-air can be found here

Item date 28/01/2015