A Preliminary Analysis of the Linkages between Air Quality Management and Transport Planning Policies in a Sample of English Highways Authorities

This paper considers the evolution of the local transport planning process and examines a sample of nine county-scale areas with regard to the integration of air quality issues within the transport planning process over the last 3 years. It concludes that transport planning in the UK has made some headway towards the integration of environmental considerations into the planning process, including air quality considerations. There is, however, notable diversity between highways authorities in the degree to which air quality is considered. Air quality management operates to a significantly shorter time-scale than transport planning. The differing time-scales of the two planning processes have hindered their integration as a consequence.