Air Quality and Social Deprivation in the UK: an environmental inequalities analysis

1. Air Quality and Social Deprivation in the UK: an environmental inequalities analysis Steve Pye

2. Background to study • Increasing recognition of environmental inequalities, and the need to address these • Need to address environmental problems as part of neighbourhood renewal / reducing deprivation - reflected in UK Sustainable Development Strategy and Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy • Defra interested in the distribution of both air quality and deprived communities, and the impact of current and planned policy • Work commissioned as part of wider project to provide statistics to ONS Neighbourhood statistics. Funding originally from DCLG • This study follows on from two pilot studies undertaken by AEA for Defra, building on recent analyses e.g. Walker et al for EA

3. Study objectives • 2 key objectives • To better understand the air quality experienced by people living in types of communities as characterised by differing levels of deprivation, and assess whether (and degree to which) inequalities exist   • To assess how far current policy is reducing inequalities, and what recommendations can be made to further promote environmental equality ….... adding to the evidence base and raising the profile of such important issues across Government departments

4. Types of analysis • To meet above objectives, study covered a range of different analyses: • A comparison of levels of deprivation and air quality concentrations (current and projected) across the UK • Assessment of changes in trends at different spatial resolutions • Assessment of the potential pollution contribution from large point sources on communities • Examination of whether pollution levels and associated impacts suffered by the most deprived communities may be compounded by increased susceptibility

5. Comparison of levels of deprivation and air quality concentrations • Comparison of ambient air quality and deprivation across the whole of the UK • Analysis resolution – (lower level) super output areas (datazones in Scotland) • Data sources – Defra pollution mapping 1x1 m grids and official UK / DA deprivation indices (based primarily on Social Disadvantage Research Centre (SDRC) methodology) • Use of different indices (corrected to remove AQ indicators) meant intra-country analysis • Pollutants considered included NO2, SO2, PM10 and O3 • Average pollution values calculated (area-weighted basis)

6. Comparison for Northern Ireland – PM10 2003

7. Country trends – NO2 (2003)

8. Country trends – PM10 (2003)

9. Population sample in ‘high pollution’ areas by decile England

10. Population sample in ‘high pollution’ areas by decile Northern Ireland

11. Future trends in England – 2003 vs. 2010 Population in sample (>40 ug/m3 NO2): - 2.17m in 2003 and 0.34 in 2010

12. Future trends in England – 2003 vs. 2010 Population in sample (>25 ug/m3 PM10): - 11.8 in 2003 and 1.0 in 2010

13. Determinants of observed trends • Analysis resolution – recognition of the need to move to a higher resolution • Analysis scale – some sensitivity to compare trends at the national scale with regional / urban analysis • Rural vs. urban – in term of demographics and emission sources • Socio-economic characterisation – influence of type of data, and how deprivation is defined

14. Urban-rural components of national trend 2003 NO2 England

15. Implications for health We considered the following issue: • If a community does experience higher pollution levels, for example of PM10, the health literature would suggest a higher risk of incidence of certain health endpoints e.g. cases of respiratory illness • Given some of the observed trends, the health implications for more deprived communities may be significantly worse relative to other communities • A key question is whether inequalities are compounded by deprived communities also being more susceptible to the impacts of air pollution

16. Susceptibility to air pollution impacts • Population susceptibility may be determined by a range of different factors: • Exposure – determined by living / working conditions, daily patterns of movement etc. • Age • Status of physical / mental health – background incidence of health endpoints underpin impact analysis • Lifestyle choices • Many complex factors in determining susceptibility make quantitative analysis difficult

17. Age-based analysis (1)

18. Age-based analysis (2) • The most deprived deciles are not necessarily more susceptible (based on age) – as numbers of elderly people are relatively lower • However, what can be seen is that for a more susceptible age group - 0-14 yrs - inequalities associated with PM10 and NO2 are greater than for other age groups or for the population as a whole • Children in deciles 1-3 experience markedly higher pollution than those in 6-9 • Important to highlight if younger population considered more susceptible to some health effects

19. Age-based analysis (3)

20. Summary of findings (1) • Inequalities in the distribution of pollutant concentrations (higher relative concentrations in the more deprived deciles) can be observed for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland …. but not Wales • The overall levels of inequality are reduced by high concentrations of these pollutants in the least deprived deciles • Inequalities are greater in areas where air quality is poorest (except for O3), as such areas are characterised by higher levels of deprivation • In future years, the numbers of people experiencing high air pollution is significantly reduced based on existing and planned policies. Inequalities however persist in some areas • Variation in values – and determinants of trends

21. Summary of findings (2) • Determining susceptibility is difficult due to the large range of factors that might determine an individual response to a given dose of air pollution … but an important issue • There are a higher proportion of children in the most deprived deciles in England, where higher concentrations of NO2 / PM10 tend to be observed. Greater inequalities than observed for the population as a whole – for a more susceptible group

22. Recommendations Consideration of further targeted measures (based on additional research) where high deprivation-high pollution areas persist • Development of robust quantitative analysis for assessment of inequalities when appraising different policies • Cross-departmental co-operation needs to be further strengthened to effectively tackle environmental inequalities • Further research on exposure patterns for different communities based on behavioural patterns • Further research into the distribution of other indicators of environmental quality

23. European analysis • Project starting in February for the European Commission – Links between social and environmental policy, focusing on links between social inclusion and environmental policy • A key task of the project will be to undertake similar analysis across Europe, assessing the distribution of impacts of pollution and unsustainable resource use • Study could cover current / future air pollution, proximity to waste sites / industry, future impacts of climate change (e.g. flooding) • Analysis resolution and scope will be driven to a large extent by data availability

24. Details of UK study Full study can be found at Air Quality Archive http://www.airquality.co.uk/archive/reports/reports.php?report_id=424 Contact details: stephen.pye@aeat.co.uk