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Air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
has long been considered a significant health issue, and it causes numerous other environmental problems such as damage to buildings, forests, and crops. Many areas, including major cities like
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, are found to be significantly and regularly above legal and recommended pollution levels. Air pollution in the UK is a major cause of diseases such as
asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
,
lung disease
The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...
,
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
,
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
, and
heart disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...
, and is estimated to cause forty thousand premature deaths each year, which is about 8.3% of deaths, while costing around £40 billion each year.
Air pollution is monitored and regulated. Air quality targets for
particulates
Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
,
nitrogen dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula . It is one of several nitrogen oxides. is an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of nitric acid, millions of tons of which are produced each year for use primarily in the producti ...
and
ozone
Ozone (), or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lo ...
, set by the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United K ...
(DEFRA), are mostly aimed at local government representatives responsible for the management of air quality in cities, where air quality management is the most urgent. In 2017, research by the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change and the Royal College of Physicians revealed that air pollution levels in 44 cities in the UK are above the recommended World Health Organization guidelines.
The UK government has plans to improve pollution due to traffic, and is banning the sale of new fossil fuel cars by 2030, and is phasing out the use of coal in
its electrical power generation.
History
Prehistory to the 20th Century
Air pollution is often assumed to have begun with the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, but it's a much older problem.
Mining has existed in
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
since prehistoric times and lead mines (such as
Charterhouse
Charterhouse may refer to:
* Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order
Charterhouse may also refer to:
Places
* The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery
* Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey
London ...
in
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
and
Odin Mine
Odin Mine is a disused lead mine in the Peak District National Park, situated at grid reference . It lies on a site of 25 hectares[Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...](_blank)
) may have been worked before
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered was ...
. The
Pipe Rolls refer to lead and silver
smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...
in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
.
Research on a Swiss ice-core indicates that atmospheric pollution containing lead between the years 1170 and 1216 was as high as that during the Industrial Revolution, correlating accurately with smelting in the
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...
, the primary European source of lead and silver at the time, with spikes in pollution associated closely with the increasing power of successive monarchs during their reigns.
In 1306,
Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
introduced the first prohibitive environmental law, against the usage of 'sea coal' from
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
.
Sulphur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
-rich coal from this exposed
seam was increasingly being used because of dwindling supplies of wood in and around cities, but it produced stifling smoke and fumes. The legislation made little difference to the population even up to
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
's time.
By the 1600s, smoke pollution was also having an effect on building exteriors. In a landmark legal case from 1610, judgement was awarded to
William Aldred against his neighbour, with references to the smell of pig sties and fumes from lime kilns, "stopping of the wholesome air" and "infecting and corrupting the air."
Through the 1800s, coal-burning for the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
in particular made the UK the world's leading source of carbon-based air pollution by a great margin (surpassed by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in 1888 and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in 1913). Local campaigning societies sprang up to complain about the health risks, such as the ''Committee for the Consumption of Smoke'' in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
.
The
Alkali Act of 1863 was passed - and intermittently amended - to regulate irritant gaseous
hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid
Acid strength is the tendency of an acid, symbol ...
produced in the
Leblanc process
The Leblanc process (pronounced leh-blaank) was an early industrial process for making ''soda ash'' (sodium carbonate) used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: making sodium sulfate from ...
to make
sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...
, but also the
sulphuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...
often caused by emissions from the same factories.
The
Public Health Act
Public Health Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom for legislation relating to public health.
List
*The Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict c 63)
*The Sanitary Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict c 90) is sometimes called the Public Health A ...
was passed in 1875, which legislated not just for the health effects of air pollution but also the visual effects.
Experiments by the
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
and the Meteorological Council from 1902–1903 found that 20% of London fogs were due to smoke alone, all were made denser and longer-lasting by smoke and that the death rate "enormously expands" during the fogs. By the 20th century - at least - respiratory diseases were the UK's biggest killers
he death-rate from bronchitis in the UK remained the highest in the world in the early 1950s, 65 per 100,000 in England and Wales, more than twice than of the nearest other country, Belgium
The Great Smog of 1952
![Nelson's Column during the Great Smog of 1952](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Nelson%27s_Column_during_the_Great_Smog_of_1952.jpg)
Early in December 1952, a cold fog descended upon London. Because of the cold, Londoners began to burn more coal than usual. The resulting air pollution was trapped by the inversion layer formed by the dense mass of cold air. Concentrations of pollutants, coal smoke in particular, built up dramatically. The problem was made worse by use of low-quality, high-sulphur coal for home heating in London in order to permit export of higher-quality coal, because of the country's tenuous postwar economic situation. The "fog", or smog, was so thick that driving became difficult or impossible. The extreme reduction in visibility was accompanied by an increase in criminal activity as well as transportation delays and a virtual shut down of the city. During the 4 day period of smog, some 3,000-4,000 people were estimated to have died, though more recent estimates suggest the actual figure may have been as high as 12,000.
Recent history
Four years after the Great London Smog, parliament passed the
Clean Air Act, which made a substantial difference to urban air quality. Even so, air pollution remains a serious environmental issue in the UK over half a century later.
In April 2014, for example, there were warnings of 'very high' air pollution for many areas of England. High levels of pollution in London and other parts of the south east of England were bad enough to cause sore eyes and sore throats and experts warned those with heart conditions and asthma to stay inside.
Attempts to tackle air pollution through legislation have also continued. On 29 April 2015, the
UK Supreme Court ruled that the government must take immediate action to cut air pollution, following a case brought by environmental lawyers at
ClientEarth
ClientEarth is an environmental law charity, with offices in London, Brussels, Warsaw, Berlin, Beijing, Madrid and Los Angeles. It was founded in 2008 by James Thornton and the organisation's CEO is Laura Clarke. As lawyers and environmental exp ...
.
Published pollution information
![Contributors to London air pollution](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Contributors_to_London_air_pollution.png)
The UK has established an air quality network where levels of the key air pollutants are published by monitoring centres. Air quality in
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
Bath and London is particularly poor. One study performed by the
Calor Gas company and published in
The Guardian newspaper
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
compared walking in Oxford on an average day to smoking over sixty light cigarettes.
The UK Air Quality Archive contains more precise information which permits a cities management of pollutants to be compared against the national air quality objectives set by DEFRA in 2000
Localized peak values are often cited, but average values are also important to human health. The UK National Air Quality Information Archive offers almost real-time monitoring of "current maximum" air pollution measurements for many UK towns and cities. This source offers a wide range of constantly updated data, including:
* Hourly Mean Ozone (µg/m
3)
* Hourly Mean Nitrogen dioxide (µg/m
3)
* Maximum 15-Minute Mean Sulphur dioxide (µg/m
3)
* 8-Hour Mean Carbon monoxide (mg/m
3)
* 24-Hour Mean PM
10 (µg/m
3 Grav Equiv)
DEFRA acknowledges that air pollution has a significant effect on health and has produced a simple banding index system that is used to create a daily warning system that is issued by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Weather Service to indicate air pollution levels. DEFRA has published guidelines for people suffering from respiratory and heart diseases.
Patients visiting doctors' surgeries, health centres and hospitals are exposed to polluted air that breaches
WHO
Who or WHO may refer to:
* Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun
* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism
* World Health Organization
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...
guidelines. A third of GP surgeries and a quarter of hospitals are in areas that breach WHO guidelines. Pollutants, notably toxic particles emitted by diesel vehicles, are linked to lifelong health issues like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, strokes and lung cancer among others.
Pollutants, notably toxic particles emitted by diesel vehicles are entering children's lungs, potentially getting into their blood streams and their brains. This can effect children's long term health, even lifelong health, their life expectancies and their intelligence. The government lost three high court cases because its plans to deal with air pollution were considered too weak, green groups and clean air campaigners frequently criticise the government. Air pollution leads to 40,000 early deaths annually and seriously impacts the lives of hundreds of thousands more, air pollution costs the NHS and social care services £40m annually. The UK has also been taken to the European court due to air pollution.
Queen Mary University of London
, mottoeng = With united powers
, established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College
, type = Public researc ...
published research on children's exposure to air pollution across the school day and found that they were disproportionately exposed to higher doses of pollution during the school run and whilst at school – particularly at break time in the school playground.
The
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, often referred to as the RCPCH, is the professional body for paediatricians (doctors specialising in child health) in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the postgraduate training of paed ...
, the
Royal College of Physicians
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...
and
Unicef
UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...
are concerned over winter 2018/2019. Air pollution will worsen as people burn fuel to heat their homes. When people's respiratory systems are weakened through air pollution low temperatures will weaken them further this particularly affects children and elderly people. It is feared hospital patients with respiratory problems will add to the pressure on the
NHS
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...
which is regularly overburdened in winter.
, approximately 4.5 million children in the UK (one in three) is growing up in a town or city with unsafe levels of particulate pollution.
Remediation
In 2019, toxic air leads to the premature deaths of at least 40,000 people a year in the UK – 9,000 in London – and it leaves hundreds of thousands more suffering serious long-term health problems.
London
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
mayor
Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...
launched the
Ultra Low Emission Zone
The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) is an area in London, England where a fee is charged for driving the most polluting vehicles.
Plans were laid out under Mayor Boris Johnson and introduced by Sadiq Khan in April 2019 in Central London, cover ...
(ULEZ) in April 2019 which involves a charge on older diesel and petrol cars with £12.50 per day. Busses pay £100 per day. This follows the
London low emission zone
The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) is a traffic pollution charge scheme with the aim of reducing the exhaust gas emissions of diesel-powered vehicles in London. The scheme applies London-wide to commercial vehicles, and should not be confused ...
plan operating since 2008.
The ULEZ was expected to cause a 20% reduction in road traffic emissions and resulted in a drop of the worst polluting vehicles entering the zone each day from 35,578 in March to 26,195 in April after the charge was introduced. A poll in April 2019 by YouGov found that 72% of Londoners supported using emissions charging to tackle both air pollution and congestion.
The zone was extended to the North and South Circular from 2021 so that it covers an area containing 3.8 million people.
A month into the expansion, TfL said that the proportion of compliant vehicles had risen from 87% to 92%, and the number of the most polluting vehicles had fallen by over a third (from 127,000 to 80,000 on weekdays). The zone will be further extended to the whole of Greater London from 2023.
England Air management
If a local authority finds an area where the targets are not likely to be met, it must declare it an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) and produce a Local Air Quality Action Plan to improve the air quality. DEFRA has published a list of local authorities with AQMAs. The action plan may include measures for
idle reduction
Idle reduction describes technologies and practices that minimize the amount of time drivers idle their engines. Avoiding idling time has a multitude of benefits including: savings in fuel and maintenance costs, extending vehicle life, and redu ...
of vehicle engines. An example is the
Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stour ...
.
Government
On 26 July 2017, the British government announced plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in Britain by 2040. This follows a similar announcement by the French government on 6 July 2017.
Industry
On 25 July 2017,
BMW announced that it would start production of an all-electric version of the
Mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
at its plant in
Cowley, Oxfordshire
Cowley () is a residential and industrial area in Oxford, England. Cowley's neighbours are Rose Hill and Blackbird Leys to the south, Headington to the north and the villages of Horspath and Garsington across fields to the east. Internationally ...
, in 2019.
Volvo
The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...
had earlier announced that all its new cars from 2019 would be
electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
or
hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
.
See also
*
Clean Air Act 1956
The Clean Air Act 1956 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted principally in response to London's Great Smog of 1952. It was sponsored by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in England and the Department of Health ...
*
DAPPLE Project
*
Environmental history
Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa.
Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of th ...
*
Environmental issues in the United Kingdom
This page lists the issues that the United Kingdom currently has that are related to the environment, such as pollution and contamination.
In 2015, it was reported that for the past decade, the state of the environment in the UK had significant ...
*
Environmental Protection UK
Environmental Protection UK is a UK environmental non-governmental organisation (NGO) working to improve the quality of the local environment - specialising in the subjects of air quality, noise management and land quality. It was formerly know ...
*
Pea soup fog
Pea soup fog (also known as a pea souper, black fog or killer fog) is a very thick and often yellowish, greenish or blackish fog caused by air pollution that contains soot particulates and the poisonous gas sulphur dioxide. This very thick smog ...
References
Further reading
* Anderson, H. Ross. "Air pollution and mortality: A history." ''Atmospheric Environment'' (2009) 43#1 pp: 142-152.
*Brimblecombe, Peter. ''The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times'' (Methuen, 1987)
* Ciecieznski, N. J. "The Stench of Disease: Public Health and the Environment in Late-Medieval English towns and cities." ''Health, Culture and Society'' (2013) 4#1 pp: 91-104.
* Fowler, D. et al "A Chronology of Global Air Quality", 2020, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 3782019031420190314.
* Fuller, G. ''The Invisible Killer: The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution - and How We Can Fight Back'' (Melville House, 2019)
* Hanlon, W. Walker. "Pollution and Mortality in the 19th Century'' (UCLA and NBER, 2015
online
* Mosley, Stephen. "'A Network of Trust': Measuring and Monitoring Air Pollution in British Cities, 1912-1960." ''Environment and History'' (2009) 15#3 pp: 273-302.
* Mosley, Stephen. "Environmental History Of Air Pollution And Protection" in ''The Basic Environmental History '' by M. Agnoletti (ed) (Springer, 2014).
* Thorsheim, Peter. ''Inventing Pollution: Coal, Smoke, and Culture in Britain since 1800'' (2009)
* Williamson, Tom. ''An Environmental History of Wildlife in England 1650-1950'' (A&C Black, 2013)
External links
at
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United K ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Air Pollution In The United Kingdom
Environmental issues in the United Kingdom