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In this paper the necessity for effective joint working arrangements between Environmental Health Officers and Transport Planners is demonstrated as a fundamental prerequisite for successful management of traffic-related air quality in English local government areas. Current approach to joint working and collaboration between the officers was examined based on the evidence from a three-year study which involved questionnaire surveys and case study interviews. The findings show that despite good administrative devolution and policy integration, the chance of improving specific local air quality situations through the Local Transport Planning process is dependent on other overriding factors which influence the capabilities of the authorities to integrate policies across departments and tiers of governments. Implicit in these findings is the need for a shared paradigm of continuous engagement by all the policy actors and stakeholders if proper integration and the possibility of tangible results in future policy development are to be achieved. The paper proposes a new framework through which such collaborations can be developed and within which solutions to the issues identified can be evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately half the world's population now lives in urban areas, and about 70% will be city dwellers by 2050. The IEA's World Energy Outlook 2008 estimates the global energy and energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emission contributions of cities are 67% and 71% respectively. They therefore represent a concentration of carbon dioxide-emitting activities, but equally provide substantial opportunities for effective mitigation. Although international action on climate change is essential, local mitigation will deliver many of the carbon savings, and consequently, cities will play an important role. However, closing the gap between 'where we are now' and 'where we need to be' can be problematic, given the all-encompassing nature of the problem and its cause, and the long timescales involved. Using the example of Bristol in south west England, this paper presents a methodology to overcome such a problem. By engaging local stakeholders through an innovative Delphi-like process, a number of low-carbon scenarios for the future city-region can be imagined. By subsequently using backcasting techniques, together with conventional forecasting, a robust pathway from the present to a future desirable low-emission city can be described. This will bring benefits to planning and policy making, by providing a low emission-pathway beyond the short term, and creates buy-in from key stakeholders through the Delphi-process, who have helped to define the city's future [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioaerosols have been associated with adverse respiratory-related health effects and are emitted in elevated concentrations from composting facilities. We used modelled Aspergillus fumigatus concentrations, a good indicator for bioaerosol emissions, to assess associations with respiratory-related hospital admissions. Mean daily Aspergillus fumigatus concentrations were estimated for each composting site for first full year of permit issue from 2005 onwards to 2014 for Census Output Areas (COAs) within 4 km of 76 composting facilities in England, as previously described (Williams et al., 2019). We fitted a hierarchical generalized mixed model to examine the risk of hospital admission with a primary diagnosis of (i) any respiratory condition, (ii) respiratory infections, (iii) asthma, (iv) COPD, (v) diseases due to organic dust, and (vi) Cystic Fibrosis, in relation to quartiles of Aspergillus fumigatus concentrations. Models included a random intercept for each COA to account for over-dispersion, nested within composting facility, on which a random intercept was fitted to account for clustering of the data, with adjustments for age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation, tobacco sales (smoking proxy) and traffic load (as a proxy for traffic-related air pollution). We included 249,748 respiratory-related and 3163 Cystic Fibrosis hospital admissions in 9606 COAs with a population-weighted centroid within 4 km of the 76 included composting facilities. After adjustment for confounders, no statistically significant effect was observed for any respiratory-related (Relative Risk (RR) = 0.99; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.96–1.01) or for Cystic Fibrosis (RR = 1.01; 95% CI 0.56–1.83) hospital admissions for COAs in the highest quartile of exposure. Similar results were observed across all respiratory disease sub-groups. This study does not provide evidence for increased risks of respiratory-related hospitalisations for those living near composting facilities. However, given the limitations in the dispersion modelling, risks cannot be completely ruled out. Hospital admissions represent severe respiratory episodes, so further study would be needed to investigate whether bioaerosols emitted from composting facilities have impacts on less severe episodes or respiratory symptoms. • One of the largest studies to date on community health effects of composting. • Used a newly available model of A. fumigatus emissions from composting facilities. • Examined respiratory hospital admissions near 76 facilities (population >17 million). • There was no excess in respiratory admissions in higher exposed areas. • Further study is required to investigate potential impacts on symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elevated urban Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2 ) is a consequence of road traffic and other fossil-fuel combustion sources, and the road transport sector provides a significant contribution to UK NO 2 emissions. The inhalation of traffic-related air pollution, including NO 2 , can cause a range of problems to human health. Due to their developing organs, children are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of air pollution inhalation. Accordingly, schools and associated travel behaviours present an important area of study for the reduction of child exposure to these harmful pollutants. COVID-19 reached the UK in late January 2020. On the 23rd of March that year, the UK government announced a nationwide stay-at-home order, or lockdown, banning all non-essential travel and contact with people outside of their own homes. The lockdown was accompanied by the closure of schools, public facilities, amenities, businesses and places of worship. The current study aims to assess the significance of nationwide NO 2 reductions at schools in England as a consequence of the lockdown in order to highlight the benefits of associated behavioural changes within the context of schools in England and potential child exposure. NO 2 data were collected from all AURN (Automatic Urban and Rural Network) monitoring sites within 500 m of nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England. A significant reduction of mean NO 2 concentrations was observed in the first month of the UK lockdown at background (-35.13%) and traffic (-40.82%) sites. Whilst lockdown restrictions are undoubtedly unsustainable, the study results demonstrate the possible reductions of NO 2 at schools in England and potential reductions of child exposure that are achievable when public behaviours shift towards active travel, work from home policies and generally lower use of polluting vehicles., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Regardless of its intent and purposes, the first decade of the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) framework had little or no effect in reducing traffic-related air pollution in the UK. Apart from the impact of increased traffic volumes, the major factor attributed to this failure is that of policy disconnect between the process of diagnosing air pollution and its management, thereby limiting the capability of local authorities to control traffic-related sources of air pollution. Integrating air quality management into the Local Transport Plan (LTP) process therefore presents opportunities for enabling political will, funding and joined-up policy approach to reduce this limitation. However, despite the increased access to resources for air quality measures within the LTP process, there are local institutional, political and funding constraints which reduce the impact of these policy interventions on air quality management. This paper illustrate the policy implementation gaps between central government policy intentions and the local government process by providing evidence of the deprioritisation of air quality management compared to the other shared priorities in the LTP process. We draw conclusions on the policy and practice of integrating air quality management into transport planning. The evidence thereby indicate the need for a policy shift from a solely localised hotspot management approach, in which the LAQM framework operates, to a more holistic management of vehicular emissions within wider spatial administrative areas., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)