2020 Annual Report for the Evaluation of Local NO2 Plans
The Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) commissioned Ipsos, working in partnership with the Institute for Transport Studies (ITS) at the University of Leeds, to deliver the Central Evaluation of the impact of these Local Plans on air quality and behaviours.
The aim of the Central Evaluation is to provide insights to support adaptive and future policymaking and inform the implementation of Local Plans. It will provide updates on whether and to what air quality has changed, as well as evidence to retrospectively report on the effectiveness of Local Plans in meeting their objectives on air quality and traffic.
This report provides an overview of the situation in Local Plan areas before these measures are implemented. It presents this baseline in terms of air quality trends as well as factors affecting the emissions of pollutants, such as traffic and the travel behaviour and attitudes of residents. Future reports will assess how these factors change post-implementation, and thereby evaluate the impact of NO2 plans.
Ipsos’s research with residents in three Local Plan areas shows that awareness of local NO2 plans is widespread (at least four in five residents had heard of the measures). Support was higher than opposition: support varied from 42% to 57% while opposition varied from 12% to 34% across residents surveyed. In Local Plan areas planning to implement a Clean Air Zone, in which certain more polluting vehicles would be charged to drive within the area, less than half of those surveyed in each area would be affected. As a result, a large proportion of residents believed they would not change their travel behaviour. Of those who indicated they would change behaviour, between 20% and 17% intended to use
a different form of transport, and between 15% and 10% planned to choose an alternative route to avoid the Zone.
The first COVID-19 lockdown affected air quality in polluted areas, due to its effects on economic activity and travel behaviour. The Institute for Transport Studies, in partnership with Ipsos, found that concentrations of the pollutants NO, NO2 and NOx (nitrogen oxides) all decreased abruptly during the first UK lockdown in March 2020. However, following the return of vehicles to the roads, such improvement in air quality were mostly offset, although NO2 still generally remains below the average for the time of year. We continue to monitor these impacts for Local Plan areas.
