Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether details of the Local Air Quality Management framework are publicly available; if so, where; what steps they are taking to ensure that local authorities carry out their duties under this framework; and what steps citizens can take to ensure that local authorities are reviewing air quality.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have published the guidance document “Meeting the Equality Duty in Policy and Decision-Making” which is available to all public authorities. Their guide provides advice on how to assess the potential impact on people with protected characteristics of a public authority’s functions, including its policies, practices and decisions.
The Local Air Quality Management Framework is set out in Part IV of the Environment Act 1995. It requires local authorities to review and assess air quality within their boundaries, and to produce an annual report detailing any monitoring results and any air pollution issues they have identified. Where an objective for a specific pollutant is exceeded the local authority must declare an Air Quality Management Area and produce an Air Quality Action Plan to address the exceedance.
Annual reports must be made available to the public and will usually be accessible on the local authority’s website. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provides support for local authorities to carry out their statutory duties under the framework via statutory guidance and a dedicated helpline.
Local traffic authorities have a statutory duty, under the Traffic Management Act 2004, to manage their networks with the aim of ‘securing the expeditious movement of traffic’. They are responsible for using their knowledge of traffic conditions and the road network in their area to decide on appropriate traffic management policies that balance the needs of local residents, emergency services, local businesses, and those who work in and visit the area. The Department has recently published statutory network management duty guidance for local authorities which emphasises the importance of consultation on road closures and other schemes.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether local authorities are required (1) to consider, and (2) to consult on, traffic displacement in advance of road closures; and whether local authorities are required to monitor congestion in streets adjacent to closed roads.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Equality and Human Rights Commission have published the guidance document “Meeting the Equality Duty in Policy and Decision-Making” which is available to all public authorities. Their guide provides advice on how to assess the potential impact on people with protected characteristics of a public authority’s functions, including its policies, practices and decisions.
The Local Air Quality Management Framework is set out in Part IV of the Environment Act 1995. It requires local authorities to review and assess air quality within their boundaries, and to produce an annual report detailing any monitoring results and any air pollution issues they have identified. Where an objective for a specific pollutant is exceeded the local authority must declare an Air Quality Management Area and produce an Air Quality Action Plan to address the exceedance.
Annual reports must be made available to the public and will usually be accessible on the local authority’s website. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provides support for local authorities to carry out their statutory duties under the framework via statutory guidance and a dedicated helpline.
Local traffic authorities have a statutory duty, under the Traffic Management Act 2004, to manage their networks with the aim of ‘securing the expeditious movement of traffic’. They are responsible for using their knowledge of traffic conditions and the road network in their area to decide on appropriate traffic management policies that balance the needs of local residents, emergency services, local businesses, and those who work in and visit the area. The Department has recently published statutory network management duty guidance for local authorities which emphasises the importance of consultation on road closures and other schemes.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether local authorities have any obligation to monitor the impact on air quality of road closures, whether experimental or permanent, including in adjacent roads to which traffic may be displaced.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is for local authorities to ensure that any changes they propose to make to road layouts are delivered in line with relevant legislation, consultation and noticing requirements.
The Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) was announced on 9 May and included £225 million of funding in two tranches for local authorities in England. Alongside the funding, the Government published additional Network Management Duty guidance. This clearly set out what the Government expects local authorities to do in making changes to their road layouts to encourage cycling and walking in response to Covid-19 and to support a green restart and recovery. These measures included road closures, for example to create low-traffic neighbourhoods.
The guidance is clear that the Public Sector Equality Duty still applies, and in making any changes to their road networks, authorities must consider the needs of disabled people and those with other protected characteristics, for example by carrying out Equality Impact Assessments on proposed schemes.
It is for local authorities to ensure any such assessments are carried out in line with relevant procedures.
The Local Air Quality Management regime requires that local authorities review and assess air quality in their area. This will normally include monitoring pollution levels especially where the local authority assesses that air quality objectives may be exceeded.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how traffic congestion has been monitored in England, (2) what data they have collected, and (3) what data they have published, about such monitoring since 2015.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport produces statistics on road congestion on the Strategic Road Network (SRN) and local ‘A’ roads in England. These statistics, used to monitor road congestion and journey time reliability, are compiled from journey time data from in-vehicle global positioning systems (GPS).
The statistics report two measures of congestion- average speed as an estimate of the physical level of congestion and average delay which is the difference between speed limit (SRN) or free flow (local ‘A’ roads) travel times and average journey times.
Statistics from April 2015 onwards for congestion on the SRN and January 2014 onwards for local ‘A’ roads are published online as part of the 'Road congestion and travel times' collection on gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish regulations requiring (1) the assessment of the impact of experimental road closures on protected characteristic groups, and (2) the mitigating action in the event of an adverse impact on those groups.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is for local authorities to ensure that any changes they propose to make to road layouts are delivered in line with relevant legislation, consultation and noticing requirements.
The Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) was announced on 9 May and included £225 million of funding in two tranches for local authorities in England. Alongside the funding, the Government published additional Network Management Duty guidance. This clearly set out what the Government expects local authorities to do in making changes to their road layouts to encourage cycling and walking in response to Covid-19 and to support a green restart and recovery. These measures included road closures, for example to create low-traffic neighbourhoods.
The guidance is clear that the Public Sector Equality Duty still applies, and in making any changes to their road networks, authorities must consider the needs of disabled people and those with other protected characteristics, for example by carrying out Equality Impact Assessments on proposed schemes.
It is for local authorities to ensure any such assessments are carried out in line with relevant procedures.
The Local Air Quality Management regime requires that local authorities review and assess air quality in their area. This will normally include monitoring pollution levels especially where the local authority assesses that air quality objectives may be exceeded.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether experimental road closures made under regulations relating to the COVID-19 pandemic require an Equality Impact Assessment, and if so, (1) whether the results of those Assessment must be published, (2) what the timeframe is for (a) completing and (b) publishing the Assessment, following the closures.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is for local authorities to ensure that any changes they propose to make to road layouts are delivered in line with relevant legislation, consultation and noticing requirements.
The Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) was announced on 9 May and included £225 million of funding in two tranches for local authorities in England. Alongside the funding, the Government published additional Network Management Duty guidance. This clearly set out what the Government expects local authorities to do in making changes to their road layouts to encourage cycling and walking in response to Covid-19 and to support a green restart and recovery. These measures included road closures, for example to create low-traffic neighbourhoods.
The guidance is clear that the Public Sector Equality Duty still applies, and in making any changes to their road networks, authorities must consider the needs of disabled people and those with other protected characteristics, for example by carrying out Equality Impact Assessments on proposed schemes.
It is for local authorities to ensure any such assessments are carried out in line with relevant procedures.
The Local Air Quality Management regime requires that local authorities review and assess air quality in their area. This will normally include monitoring pollution levels especially where the local authority assesses that air quality objectives may be exceeded.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their confirmation that the public sector equality duty still applies in cases where roads have been closed under COVID-19 emergency legislation, whether this obliges local authorities to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment of their road closures.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is for local authorities to ensure that any changes they propose to make to road layouts are delivered in line with relevant legislation, consultation and noticing requirements.
The Emergency Active Travel Fund (EATF) was announced on 9 May and included £225 million of funding in two tranches for local authorities in England. Alongside the funding, the Government published additional Network Management Duty guidance. This clearly set out what the Government expects local authorities to do in making changes to their road layouts to encourage cycling and walking in response to Covid-19 and to support a green restart and recovery. These measures included road closures, for example to create low-traffic neighbourhoods.
The guidance is clear that the Public Sector Equality Duty still applies, and in making any changes to their road networks, authorities must consider the needs of disabled people and those with other protected characteristics, for example by carrying out Equality Impact Assessments on proposed schemes.
It is for local authorities to ensure any such assessments are carried out in line with relevant procedures.
The Local Air Quality Management regime requires that local authorities review and assess air quality in their area. This will normally include monitoring pollution levels especially where the local authority assesses that air quality objectives may be exceeded.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a local authority is obliged to (1) inform, and (2) formally consult, (a) the emergency services, (b) the police, (c) waste disposal services, (d) businesses, (e) other institutions such as charities or schools, and (f) residents in the areas that are directly affected, when it proposes the permanent closure of a road or a permanent restriction on its use by motorised traffic.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Where a local authority wishes to close a road permanently, it is required to make a permanent traffic regulation order. A permanent order gives legal effect to the closure and any associated restrictions. The procedure for advertising and consulting on traffic regulation orders is set out in The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996.
Before the order can come into force, the regulations require the authority to publish a “notice of proposals” concerning the intended closure in a newspaper circulating in the area. The authority is also required to "take such other steps as it may consider appropriate for ensuring that adequate publicity about the order is given to persons likely to be affected by its provisions". There is then a 21-day period in which members of the public can object to the order.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether local authorities proposing to permanently close roads or divert traffic from existing routes have any obligation to (1) estimate, and (2) consider, the net impact of any such closures or diversions on total national emissions, rather than solely the roads subject to closure or reduction in use.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Highway authorities are responsible for managing their road networks and for proposing and making all types of Traffic Orders. There is no specific legal requirement for highway authorities proposing to permanently close roads or divert traffic via Traffic Orders to assess the impact on emissions. There are requirements for them to consult, in some circumstances, local businesses, communities and those affected by the changes.
There are specific circumstances when referral of Traffic Orders is made to the Secretary of State, for example, in relation to extending experimental Traffic Orders or where the same road has been closed several times for special events. The Government has no authority to review changes made by Traffic Orders which may impact on emissions.
Elected authorities, including elected mayors, are not provided with any duties under transport legislation to monitor the impact of emissions in their areas of responsibility.
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what authority they have to review changes of road use introduced by local authorities which have proven to have a demonstrably large and negative effect on total emission levels.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Highway authorities are responsible for managing their road networks and for proposing and making all types of Traffic Orders. There is no specific legal requirement for highway authorities proposing to permanently close roads or divert traffic via Traffic Orders to assess the impact on emissions. There are requirements for them to consult, in some circumstances, local businesses, communities and those affected by the changes.
There are specific circumstances when referral of Traffic Orders is made to the Secretary of State, for example, in relation to extending experimental Traffic Orders or where the same road has been closed several times for special events. The Government has no authority to review changes made by Traffic Orders which may impact on emissions.
Elected authorities, including elected mayors, are not provided with any duties under transport legislation to monitor the impact of emissions in their areas of responsibility.