Stuck in Belfast traffic with transport announcements intermittently describing the “usual spots of traffic”, the conversation often turns to Belfast’s title as “the most congested city in Europe”. Although, the European rankings for the most congested small cities have recently shifted to place Polish city, Łódź in first place with Belfast remaining in second place. The congestion in Belfast is not only problematic due to time wasted sitting in traffic and the associated impact on productivity – it is said Belfast drivers lose eight days a year sitting in traffic - sitting in traffic also causes negative health and well-being implications such as increased blood pressure and chronic stress. Even more alarming, however, is the direct health impacts of air pollution primarily caused by levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) produced from the tailpipes of diesel and petrol vehicles.
Exposure to NO2 according to COMEAP leads to an increase of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. In the short term, high-level exposure to NO2 poses a threat to those suffering with asthma, (particularly children) and the elderly population with pre-existing cardiovascular issues (see http://www.airqualityni.co.uk for daily NI air quality levels).
Long-term exposure to NO2 according to COMEAP has been strongly linked to lung and cardiovascular mortality however the committee attains that it cannot be certain due to the variety of pollutants in the air. However, it is broadly accepted that by reducing air pollution levels, risk can be reduced from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and both chronic and acute respiratory disease.
In 2016, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) reported that the EU NO2 air quality restrictions of 40 μg/m-3 (annual mean) were exceeded at three separate locations in Northern Ireland. The worst offender was Belfast’s Stockman’s Lane, where legally safe limits of NO2 were exceeded by 10 μg/m-3. Two other sites violating EU restrictions in Northern Ireland were Downpatrick Roadside at (44 μg m-3) and Newtownabbey Antrim Road (41 μg m-3). Other cities within the UK (Nottingham, Southampton and Birmingham to name a few) also repeatedly exceed EU air quality restrictions. Air quality is such a problem in London the maximum hourly allowance of exposure of NO2 was exceeded within the first month of 2018 (EU permits 18 instances of exceeding an average hourly rate of 200 µg/m3) which has been legally challenged on several occasions.
As the threat of air pollution sanctions and public health risk looms, many cities have started to take strong action. The focus is placed on drastically reducing private car traffic, in particular diesel cars. The rationale is underpinned by an ICCT[2] report that indicates that diesel cars produce 10 times more NO2 in proportion to fuel consumption than heavy trucks. For example, Copenhagen’s mayor Frank Jensen, has imposed a ban on new diesel cars in the city by 2019 stating: “it is not a human right to pollute the air for others”. Hackney and Islington councils plan on even stronger action with a total ban on all private cars from busy streets within the year, 2018, in an effort to improve air quality.
While cities such as Copenhagen have a comprehensive and affordable public transport networks, Belfast’s public transport is flagging behind. The prevalence of the private car, although normally is pointed to as an individual preference based on comfort, can in Belfast be attributed to the Matthew plan in the 1960’s. The plan which aimed to ease overcrowding in the city centre, lead to urban sprawl and increasing car dependency. In addition, during the Troubles people sought refuge outside of the city centre, extending urban sprawl which combined with the hijacking and destroying of buses could be said to have further ingrained the car culture. Right up to the turn of the millennium the primary planning approach in Belfast was to meet the high demand of cars in the city by building more roads for cars. This history of planning has inadvertently led to the car-oriented design of Belfast city centre, meaning the city is most accessible by car, thus increasing the demand for cars in the city. All in all, these factors pose a difficult challenge to Belfast transport planners today, who with greater knowledge of the adverse effects of NO2 on our health, hope to change the cities reliance on cars.
Contrastingly, Germany has proposed providing free public transport in five cities (a responsive action after exceeding the EU air pollution limits) such a policy makes private car usage laughable. Moreover, disincentives don’t have to be as coercive as London’s congestion charge. Rather, disincentives could be creative, fun urban interventions. Such as reducing space for cars in the city by converting car parking spaces into green ‘Urban Lounges’ as Waverley Council has done in Sydney - or perhaps more appropriate for Belfast, provide pleasant shelter from the rain to encourage pedestrians and open up free space in the city. In contrast to these measures, concessions are given on public transport to off-peak travelers despite the hellish scenes of back to back cars at peak times.
Whilst the Glider and Belfast on the Move are great steps towards moving away from previous planning traditions and reducing congestion, much bolder action is needed to incentivise people out of their cars and into sustainable modes of transport to ensure air quality returns to a safe level of NO2.
**https://www.iqair.com/uk/northern-ireland**
Northern Ireland’s air quality management is largely influenced by the requirements of the European Union’s Air Quality Directives, as well as the 2007 UK Air Quality Strategy. The requirements of these initiatives are integrated into Northern Ireland’s own legislation, most recently through Northern Ireland’s ‘Air Quality Standards Regulations’ of 2010.4 As is the case across much of the UK, Northern Ireland’s air quality management is largely carried out at the local level. Northern Ireland’s Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) framework devolves part of this management to the nation-state’s 11 district councils, who are responsible to try to ensure their areas meet the UK Air Quality Strategy’s objectives. As in the rest of the UK, if local measurements suggest an area will not meet those objectives, the district council is obliged to declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA), and develop an Action Plan to address the issue.4 As of 2018, Northern Ireland had 19 AQMA’s across 9 councils. Of these councils, 7 of the AQMAs relate to NO2 levels breaching the national objectives, and the remaining 2 council AQMAs are addressing both NO2 and PM10 breaches.4
Air pollution poses the biggest environmental hazard to human health across the United Kingdom, and the nation-state of Northern Ireland is no exception to this. Home to 3% of the UK’s population, the impacts of Northern Ireland air pollution are estimated to contribute toward 553 premature deaths annually.1 There are several pollutants of concern in Northern Ireland. Air quality breaches have been recorded against both the UK and European Union’s legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3), while levels of harmful fine particulate matter (PM2.5) also exceed the World Health Organisation’s target limit in several locations. Air pollution can contribute to a range of both short-term and long-term health impacts. Short-term effects can include irritation of eyes, nose and throat; and aggravation of respiratory diseases such as asthma. Long-term exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, as well as cancer.2
According to IQAir’s 2019 World Air Quality Report, Northern Ireland’s capital city, Belfast was the UK’s 3rd most polluted city for PM2.5 pollution in 2019, out of a total of 130 cities reported.3 Belfast air pollution measured an annual average of 12.9 μg/m3 PM2.5 concentration in 2019, exceeding the WHO’s guideline of an annual mean concentration of 10 μg/m3 by 29 percent. Belfast ranked 3rd only after the English town of Chatham in Kent (14.0 μg/m3), and the village of Stockton in Warwickshire, England (13.1 μg/m3). Northern Ireland’s 5th largest city, Bangor also exceeded the WHO target with an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 10.7 μg/m3; while the other two cities with available PM2.5 data achieved the WHO target. Londonderry, the nation’s 2nd largest city averaged 9.9 μg/m3 during 2019, while the smaller town of Enniskillen averaged a significantly lower 5.2 μg/m3. With this low measurement, Enniskillen in fact ranked as the UK’s 4th cleanest city for PM2.5 pollution during 2019, behind Harmondsworth in England (4.3 μg/m3), and Stirling (4.9 μg/m3) and Midlothian (5.1 μg/m3) in Scotland.3 While this only represents a small sample of locations within Northern Ireland with available data, it illustrates that the country can experience a range of both high and low air pollution levels in different areas.
In keeping with much of UK air quality, some areas of Northern Ireland are also found to experience illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution (NO2). Of available data which includes 16 monitoring sites across the country during 2018, 3 locations were found to exceed the UK and EU legal annual mean NO2 limit of 40 μg/m3. These were Downpatrick Roadside, in the town of Downpatrick (47 μg/m3); Belfast Stockman’s Lane, in the capital city Belfast (49 μg/m3); and Limavady Dungiven, in the town of Dungiven (51 μg/m3).
Some Northern Irish sites have also been measured to have illegally high levels of ozone (O3) pollution, against the UK’s Air Quality Strategy target objective not to exceed 100 μg/m3 of ozone on more than 10 days per year. Two of four monitored sites, in urban Derry Rosemount (Londonderry) and the rural Lough Navar (near Enniskillen) exceeded this limit with 13 and 16 days of breaches during 2018, respectively.4