Tackling air pollution should not be a luxury exclusively for the South. It should be a right for everyone, wherever they live, writes Philippa Borrowman

Philippa Borrowman is policy adviser at Green Alliance and author of ‘The case for clean air zones’.

Air pollution is an invisible killer and a public health emergency in the UK.

In the first incident of its kind, in 2020, a court found that a nine-year-old child from south London died as a direct result of toxic air.

Stark air pollution inequalities

Because of where they live, low earners and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are disproportionately affected by air pollution. Poorer households are also the least likely to have contributed to the problem as they are the least likely to own a car.

The inequalities are regional as well as social. Our latest report shows that, while some cities, particularly those in the midlands and south, have started to deal with the issue, areas in the north of the UK are moving more slowly, and their residents and businesses will lose out.

The culprit pollutants are nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, mostly coming from road transport in cities. The UK breaches its own legal limit for nitrogen dioxide every year, as we discuss in the Green Alliance podcast.

Clean air zone progress is slow

In 2015, government ordered five local authorities to implement clean air zones by 2020, but progress has been slow, and today only one of these five local authorities have plans for a zone in place. These zones, where high polluting vehicles pay to enter, like London’s ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ), are one of the most effective ways to reduce levels of illegal air pollution quickly. Sine 2017 more than 60 other local authorities have been ordered by ministers to produce plans to comply with air quality regulations, either through clean air zones or otherwise. But today, half are still yet to submit their final air quality plans for ministerial approval.

Local authorities have been able to choose which type of zone they implement, with the most ambitious targeting private cars as well as commercial vehicles. Since it was introduced in 2019, the ULEZ has successfully reduced nitrogen dioxide at central London roadsides by 37 per cent and cut the number of high polluting vehicles within the zone by half.

There are 250 clean air zones across Europe, but only two currently operating in the UK: London and Bath. Birmingham and Bristol are expected to follow later this year, and, like London’s, they will include private cars.

Northern cities are holding back

But northern cities are holding back for several reasons. The pandemic has caused understandable reluctance to introduce charges at such a time, but other causes are unrelated to Covid and include local backlash, a lack of central government support and failure to put the necessary technology in place. Many places now don’t expect to implement their zones until 2022 at the earliest, and a significant number will not be targeting private cars, while others haven’t even confirmed their plans yet. Leeds has scrapped its plans completely.

The impacts of air pollution are as much an issue for the north as they are for the south. In Greater Manchester alone, it is estimated 1,200 residents die prematurely due to air pollution. The figure is just over 1,000 for the Liverpool City Region. And many more lives are blighted by ill health. Young lungs are particularly vulnerable, and so many schools are in areas of high pollution. In Birmingham, 88 per cent of school areas exceed the World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline for particulate matter and a study by Breathe London found that almost 40 per cent of the nitrogen oxide pollution around schools was from road transport due to increases in particulate matter during the morning school run.

Air pollution as a major economic problem

It’s also a major economic problem. Where there is dirty air, workers and businesses suffer. One study found that, if the UK was able to meet air quality standards set by the WHO, it would benefit to the tune of £1.6 billion and gain an extra three million working days annually.

Modelling by Green Alliance showed that a Bristol clean air zone including private cars could bring over £150 million in economic gains to the area from factors like lower health costs, fewer accidents and shorter journey times. The same study found that if they did not target private cars they would only benefit to the tune of £30 million.

Zones are being rejected often because of poor understanding. There are common misperceptions, for instance a belief that they are simply a stealth tax or that they don’t actually improve the air.

Other countries are successfully tackling air pollution

Cases abroad show that they are invariably popular, if accompanied by a good communications campaign at both national and local level and supported by policies that help local people and firms adjust. Measures introduced in Vienna have had unanimous support from its residents and businesses. A survey of hauliers and suppliers operating within Gothenburg’s low emission zone found half of the respondents liked the scheme, with only 20 per cent rating it negatively.

Tackling air pollution is also part of a bigger picture, about what kind of future we all want. Around three quarters of local authorities in the UK have declared a climate emergency. The Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, has highlighted that total car mileage has to fall by almost ten per cent over the next 15 years for the UK to address climate change at the necessary pace.

This shouldn’t be a luxury only for the south, it should be a right for everyone, wherever they live. If equal and urgent attention is not given to this problem across the whole country, air quality will become another reason the north loses out.

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