Supreme Court ruling on air quality has wide implications for infrastructure

Matthew Farrow
01 May 2015

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New development plans and construction site practice will be hit by demand that UK cuts air pollution, says Matthew Farrow of the Environmental Industries Commission. 

On Wednesday, the UK’s highest court ruled the government must commit to tackling air quality by the end of 2015. The ruling came on the back of the UK’s failure to comply with EU laws on nitrogen dioxide emissions. In a unanimous decision, the Court said that regardless of who’s in power after the upcoming General Election, “the next government should be left in no doubt as to the need for immediate action to address this issue.”

"The Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee argued planning permission should be automatically refused for any development that could worsen air quality where it was near a school or hospital.With nearly 25,000 schools in England, the vast majority of developments will find a school in near proximity."

I am encouraged by the Supreme Court’s ruling but tackling air pollution is a complex issue where there are no magical solutions.

Most of the media coverage on Wednesday’s judgement has emphasised the role of exhaust fumes from diesel cars and lorries as the main problem. So one might assume this is not an issue that will impact greatly on the infrastructure community. Well don’t be so sure. If, as now seems likely, the next Government decides it has to elevate air pollution from a technical environmental policy concern to a major priority, there could be several implications.

For instance, in London, 15% of air pollution is from diesel engines on construction sites (technically known as Non Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM)) – things like generators, construction vehicles and the like. Now pressure is mounting for all such machinery to have diesel particulate filters (DPFs) technology retrofitted, in the same way as has been done for several thousand buses. DPFs can cut emissions by 75-90%, but the investment requirement and ‘hassle factor’ for the construction industry may not go down well.

And that’s not to mention planning, which may also be affected. The Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, in its recent influential report, argued planning permission should be automatically refused for any development that could worsen air quality where it was near a school or hospital.  With nearly 25,000 schools in England, the vast majority of developments will find a school in near proximity.

Similarly, biomass heating in urban areas can also worsen air quality, and that could also affect the acceptability of things like biomass-fuelled combined heat and power plants in new buildings.

More broadly, there may be more weight given to air quality impacts in the early stages of infrastructure planning, which could ultimately influence a wide range of projects.

Matthew Farrow is executive director of the Environmental Industries Commission. www.eic-uk.co.uk