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

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

• Steve Pye

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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Comparison for Northern Ireland PM10 2003
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Country trends NO2 (2003)
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Country trends PM10 (2003)
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Population sample in high pollution areas by
decile
England
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Population sample in high pollution areas by
decile
Northern Ireland
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Future trends in England 2003 vs. 2010
Population in sample (gt40 ug/m3 NO2) - 2.17m in
2003 and 0.34 in 2010
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Future trends in England 2003 vs. 2010
Population in sample (gt25 ug/m3 PM10) - 11.8 in
2003 and 1.0 in 2010
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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

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Urban-rural components of national trend
2003 NO2 England
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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

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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

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Age-based analysis (1)
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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

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Age-based analysis (3)
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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

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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

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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

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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

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Details of UK study

• Full study can be found at Air Quality Archive
• http//www.airquality.co.uk/archive/reports/report
  s.php?report_id424
• Contact details stephen.pye_at_aeat.co.uk