Tackling air pollution: The role of the local highway authority

The paper describes how Lancashire County Council initially undertook. a 'Green Audit' in 1989 to determine the state of the environment in Lancashire and to provide a baseline for comparison purposes in the future. Following this comprehensive study, an Environmental Forum, comprising 80 organizations, was established. This was responsible for producing an Environmental Action Programme (EAP) in March 1993. The paper discusses the major measures relating to transport in the EAP and how they contribute to the relief of global warming, to reviving towns, to improving air quality, and to conserving wild life and the countryside. These measures are also linked to the sustainability objectives as put forward by the Earth Summit Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and subsequently by those of the European Union and the UK. Government. The paper relates the EAP measures, issued jointly by the Department of the Environment and the Department of Transport. Planning Policy Guidance on Transport (PPG13). It discusses the recommendations of recent transport studies undertaken in the major urban areas of Lancashire and the way measures to promote more sustainable transport policies have been translated into package bids for TPP purposes, The paper proceeds to describe a vehicle emissions model for assessing the effects of road improvements or traffic management measures on air pollution, and concludes with a discussion on aspects of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's 18th Report on Transport and the Environment.