Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Background to the new study
Broad topics to be covered
Invitation to submit views on the key issues
References
List of organisations to which this letter was sent

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Invitation to submit information to determine scope of study

The next study by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution will be on the urban environment, both in terms of environmental problems that negatively effect health, material and social well-being of urban dwellers and reducing the impacts of urban centres on the environment. The preparatory phase of this new study will overlap with completion of the current studies on the environmental effects of fisheries on the marine environment and bystander exposure to pestcides.

The study was selected on the basis of a consultation exercise held between April and May 2003. The Commission is grateful to all who contributed. A study on the urban environment received strong support and was therefore selected. The Commission sought to define the scope of the new study, and in doing so took into account responses to the invitation to submit evidence letter and the outcome of a seminar held at the begining of April 2004. The specific issues that the urban environment study will cover by March 2005 and invite detailed evidence on those issues. Our intention is to publish a report on the urban environment at the beginning of 2006.

Background to the new study

Urban issues are becoming of critical importance around the world and urbanisation is expected to continue, with close to half of the world's population already living in urban areas and some cities now reaching unprecedented sizes.

In the UK, a high standard of local urban environmental quality is characterised by clean, safe attractive streets, and parks and open spaces where people feel at ease. Policy for the urban environment is formulated by central and devolved governments but it falls to local authorities to deliver local urban environmental quality to its communities.

The presence of litter, graffiti, fly-tipping, abandoned cars, dog fouling and loss of play areas or footpaths, noise (from transport, industry and nuisance neighbours), and air, water, light and odour pollution, all detract from local urban environmental quality and consequently reduce the quality of life for those who live there. Housing and transport impinge on biodiversity and landscape.

The study will consider UK policies and the situations they address, but the Commission also intends that its work will directly influence the European Commission's thematic strategy on the Urban Environment that will be presented to the European Parliament and Council by July 2005 - a European urban environmental strategy will be developed during 2005/2006. This work has identified 4 priority themes: sustainable urban transport; sustainable urban management (Local Agenda 21, EMAS, indicators); sustainable urban construction (resource and energy efficiency, demolition waste, design issues); and sustainable urban design (land use-regeneration, brown field sites, urban sprawl, land use densities). The overall goal of the European Strategy is to improve environmental efficiency of urban areas and the quality of life of urban citizens.

Broad topics to be covered

The environment in which we live and work still has significant problems that affect our health and impose high economic costs. A new approach is needed to deal with these problems in an integrated way. We need to tackle the environmental problems that people experience in their everyday life. The scope of a study on the urban environment could therefore potentially cover a very wide range of topics. It will need to be carefully focused in order to be manageable within the resources available to the Royal Commission. A possible overarching theme might be "delivering a quality urban environment". Views on an overarching theme for the study would be welcomed.

Broad topics that might be covered in a study on the urban environment include:

• Governance and urban planning policy at local, regional and national scales and the role of the European Union
• Defining local urban environmental quality – what is important to people? How are priorities set?
• Delivery of local urban environmental quality – how well is it being delivered in UK communities? How might it be improved?
• Sustainable building and sustainable communities
  

A number of issues could be relevant to the broad topics proposed, such as:

• Local urban environmental quality and urban exodus
• Interaction with the rural environment
• Urban regeneration
• Soil contamination – the size of the problem; identifying and remediating contaminated land
• Biodiversity and urban environmental quality – biodiversity in urban habitat patches, the effects of vehicle emissions on wildlife, conservation programmes
• Provision and use of public space. Implications for well-being and crime reduction
• Adapting to climate change - infrastructure is typically designed to last for 30-100 years
• Urban Air Quality – impacts of particulates and NOx, indoor air pollution and the effectiveness of regulation
• Water pollution - impacts of sewage and industrial waste on the urban environment, rehabilitation of water sources and pollution prevention. Diffused sources of water pollution including water run off. Sustainable urban drainage
• Noise pollution from transport and industry, and nuisance noise from neighbours. City-dwellers are more likely to be exposed to higher levels of noise than the rural population. This is an issue of great concern to the general public with complaints rising steadily
• Light pollution – this causes night-time vision to be impaired, which can be dangerous to motorists and pedestrians and cause damage and confusion to flora and fauna. Light pollution can also remove an individual’s privacy, cause sleep disturbance and has been linked with health problems
• Odour pollution and other statutory nuisance – including dust and bonfire nuisance, efficacy of regulation and monitoring
• Urban waste – its generation and disposal

Invitation to submit views on the key issues

The Commission requested views and information that would help it to set the scope of the urban study. The purpose of this phase of the study is to obtain an overview of current thinking about the topic, broadly defined, and to amass sufficient background information to enable the Commission to formulate its own expectations for the study, what roles it expects the report to fulfil and what audience(s) it intends for the report. At the end of this phase, the Commission will define the issues the report should cover.

The Commission welcomed views on a possible overarching theme for the urban study, the broad topics it might cover, and the issues that would be relevant to those topics.

This letter was addressed to around 100 organisations (listed below) that are particularly likely to have useful experience. It is also being sent to the Commission's counterpart bodies in other European countries and the text of the reponses are available on this website

ANNEX

LIST OF ORGANISATIONS TO WHICH THIS LETTER HAS BEEN SENT

Association of Chief. Police. Officers.
Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment
Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland
Association of Chief Police Officers
Association of County Councils
Association of Garden Trusts
Association of London Government
Association of National Park Authorities
Association of National Parks
Association of Town Centre Management
BRE
British Parking Association
British Academy
British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers
British Council of Disabled People
British Council of Shopping Centres
British Embassy, Washington
British Medical Association
British Parking Association
British Road Federation
British Tourist Authority
British Trust for Nature Conservation
British Waterways
Business in the Community
CABE
Cabinet Office
Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales
Centre for European Policy Studies
Centre for Policy Studies
Centre for Research into the Built Environment
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
Chartered Institution of Wastes Management
Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
Childrens Play Council
Civic Trust
Commission for Integrated Transport
Commission for New Towns
Community Development Foundation
Community Recycling Network
Confederation of British Industry
Confederation of British Industry
Confederation of British Industry Scotland
Confederation of British Industry Wales
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
Corporation of London
Council for National Parks
Council for the Protection of Rural England
Council of Welsh Districts
Countryside Agency
Countryside Council for Wales
Department for Culture, Media & Sport
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for International Development
Department for Social Development, Northern Ireland
Department for Transport
Department for Work and Pensions
Department of Health
Department of Trade & Industry
DW Outdoor Limited
East Midlands Development Agency
East of England Development Agency
Economic and Social Research Council
ENDS - Environmental Data Services Ltd
English Heritage
English Nature
English Partnerships
English Tourism Council
Environment Agency
European Commission
Environment Council
Environment Environmental Advisory Council
Environment Housing & Town Planning Committee
Environment Trust
Environmental Campaigns
Environmental Law Foundation
EPSRC Built Environment
European Environment Agency
European Environmental Bureau
European Policy Forum
Fauna and Flora Preservation Society
Foresight Transport and Built Environment Panel
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth Cymru
Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
Friends of the Earth Scotland
Government Office for the North West
Government Office Eastern Region
Government Office for London
Government Office for Merseyside
Government Office for the East Midlands
Government Office for the East of England
Government Office for the Eastern Region
Government Office for the North East
Government Office for the North West
Government Office for the South East
Government Office for the South West
Government Office for the West Midlands
Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber
Government Office Northern
Greater London Authority
Green Alliance
Green Balance
Greenpeace UK
Groundwork Foundation
Groundwork UK
Health & Safety Executive
Highways Agency
Home Office
House Builders Federation
House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee
House of Commons, Environmental Audit Committee
House of Commons, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
House of Commons, Trade and Industry Select Committee
House of Commons, Committee of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
House of Lords, Environ, Agriculture, Public Health & Consumer Protection
House of Lords, Science and Technology Select Committee
ILAM - Institute Leisure and Amenity Management
Improvement and Development Agency
Institute for European Environmental Policy, London
Institute of Directors
Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management
Institute of Wastes Management
Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Landscape Institute
Law Society
Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee
Local Government Association
London Bus Services Ltd,
London Transport
Magistrates Association
MRC Institute for Environment and Health
National Assembly for Wales
National Farmers' Union of Scotland
National House-Building Council
National Institute of Economic and Social Research
National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection
Natural Environment Research Council
Network Rail
Noise Abatement Society
Northern Ireland Assembly
Northern Ireland Department of the Environment
Northern Ireland Office
NSALG -National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners
Office for National Statistics
Office of Science and Technology
Office of the Deputy Prime Minster
Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
Office of the Secretary of State for Wales
Office of the Welsh Assembly
Open Spaces Society
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
Pedestrians Association
Pedestrians Policy Group
Planning Inspectorate
Policy Studies Institute
Popular Housing Forum
Regional Assembly for Yorkshire and Humberside
Regional Development Agency
Renewable Energy in the Urban Environment (RENUE)
ROOM, National Council for Housing and Planning
RoSPA
Royal Acadamy of Engineering
Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Society
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Town Planning Institute
RSNC - Royal Society for Nature Conversation
Scotland Office
Scottish Environment LINK
Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Scottish Executive
Scottish Executive Environment Affairs Group
Scottish Landowners Association
Scottish Natural Heritage
Scottish Trade Union Congress
SEEDA South East England Development Agency
South West of England Regional Development Agency
Sustainable Development Commission
TCPA - Town and Country Planning Association
TfL Street Management
Thames 21
The Woodland Trust
The Yorkshire and Humber Assembly
Town and Country Planning Association
Trades Union Congress
Transport 2000
Transport for London
UK Centre for Economic and Environmental Development
UK Environmental Law Association
Ulster Farmers Union
Urban Nature Magazine
Urban Parks Forum
Welsh Development Agency
Welsh Trade Union Council
Wildlife Trusts (Royal Society for Nature Conservation)
Women's Environnment Network
World Wide Fund for Nature UK

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