Andrew Taylor, Scottish Government - Cleaner Air for Scotland: Developing Scotland's First Air Quality Strategy

1. Cleaner Air for Scotland
– developing Scotland’s
first air quality strategy
Andrew G Taylor
Air Quality Policy Manager
Scottish Government

2. Cleaner Air for Scotland
• Why and How?
• Consultation and Collaboration
• Evolution and Development
• Publication and Implementation

3. Air Quality in Scotland
• Scotland already enjoys some of the
best air quality in Europe
• Emissions have been falling steadily
over recent decades through tighter
controls on industry and increasingly
stringent vehicle and fuel standards
• The air we breathe today is overall
probably better than at any time
since the Industrial Revolution

4. Air quality hits the news…

5. • More local authorities declaring AQMAs
• Many local authorities have long established action
plans with a wide range of measures, but progress in
improving air quality is slow
• Measures with the biggest potential impacts tend to
be expensive and/or presentationally difficult – Low
Emission Zones, congestion charging, large scale
modal shift from private vehicles to public transport or
active transport
• Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow have all
completed/are undertaken LEZ feasibility studies – but
no LEZ yet in Scotland despite widespread adoption in
Europe
Background

6. A national approach may help acceptability, provide
certainty for businesses and transport operators with
the same standards to be met everywhere
Scottish Government announced in July 2013 that a
national framework for LEZs would be developed
Concept subsequently developed in to plans for a
national Low Emissions Strategy within which LEZ
framework will sit
A national approach to LEZs

7. The aim:
To draw together various
policies being implemented and
developed across a range of
central government portfolios
which have the potential to
improve air quality, and other
cross-cutting environmental issues,
and present these within a coherent
overall framework.
A national Low Emission Strategy

8. Timeline for development
May/June 2014
- three themed consultation workshops covering planning,
transport/business and energy
- purpose was to inform content of draft strategy - c.50 private and public
sector organisations participated
- structured interviews with a range of organisations to provide more in
depth input
- literature review to learn from experience elsewhere: London, Bradford,
Oxford, York, Berlin, Bremen, Copenhagen, Milan, Stockholm, Hong Kong,
Mexico City, San Francisco, Seoul

9. July – November 2014
• Draft strategy developed by Scottish
Government, Transport Scotland and Scottish
Environment Protection Agency
• Additional support and feedback from
Scottish Transport Emissions Partnership
members and Scottish Urban Air Quality
Group
• Draft Low Emission Strategy officially
launched by the Transport Minister at the
Scottish Transport Emissions Partnership
annual conference – November 2014
The draft Low Emission Strategy

10. January 2015
• Consultation paper published
February 2015
• Series of working groups established to provide more detailed consultation input
on key elements of the draft strategy:
– Low Emission Zone Framework
– Modelling and monitoring
– Transport
– Sustainability
– Planning
• Each group met several times during the consultation period, with some groups
also meeting through the final development phase
The consultation phase

11. March/May 2015
• A series of telephone interviews
was conducted with key individuals
and organisations to ensure that their
views were captured as part of the
consultation
• An online survey was also set up – consultees thus had several options for contributing to
the consultation
• Formal consultation concluded on 10 April – c.70 responses received, overwhelmingly
supportive of the general principles
• Post-consultation workshop on 29 May
Additional consultation

12. Starting to take shape…
To protect and enhance health, wellbeing, environment, place-making and sustainable
economic growth through improved air quality across Scotland.
Mission:
Vision: Scotland’s air quality will be the best in Europe.
Transport:
A Scotland that reduces transport
emissions through supporting the
uptake of low and zero emission
fuels and technologies, promoting
modal shift away from the car,
including active travel and reducing
the need to travel.
Health:
A Scotland which protects its citizens and visitors
from harmful effects of air pollution, thus
reducing health inequalities.
Legislation and Policy:
A Scotland where all European and
Scottish legal requirements relating to
air quality are at least complied with.
Placemaking:
A Scotland where air quality is not
compromised by new or existing
development and where places are
designed to minimise air pollution and
its effects.
Communication:
A Scotland where all citizens are well
informed, engaged, and empowered
to improve our air quality.
Climate Change:
A Scotland that reduces greenhouse
gas emissions and achieves its
renewable energy targets whilst
delivering co-benefits for air quality.

13. From Low Emission Strategy to Cleaner Air for
Scotland

14. What’s in it?
• Wide range of actions covering the six objectives
• Some highlights:
- Adoption of World Health Organisation guideline
values for particulate matter in Scottish legislation
- National Modelling Framework
- National Low Emission Framework
- Communications strategy

15. What happens next?

16. For further information on
Cleaner Air for Scotland:
andrew.taylor2@gov.scot