Public opinions on air quality

Defra is asking ordinary members of the public for their opinions on air quality.

Twenty people have been recruited to take part in a citizen's jury, a form of public consultation. To provide a representative cross-section of people from rural, urban and city environments jury members have been recruited from Rugeley, Tamworth, Lichfield, Kingshurst, Sutton Coldfield, Erdington, Great Barr, Perry Barr, New Oscott, Edgbaston, Sparkbrook and the City Centre.

They are being asked to provide Defra with recommendations on the types of measures they think should be introduced to improve air quality.

Following an introductory evening, the jury spent a weekend hearing evidence from a range of air quality experts chosen to answer questions identified by the jury themselves, with an opportunity to cross-examine 'witnesses'.

At a final meeting the jury discussed the evidence they had heard and formulated their recommendations which will be presented informally to Defra on Saturday 28 January.

The independent facilitators managing the citizens' jury will draft a report based on the jury's conclusions and recommendations. This will be sent to all the jurors for their agreement before being given to Defra.

A delegation from the jury has been invited to a meeting with Defra air quality policy-makers to discuss the recommendations in their report.

A formal response from Defra to the recommendations will be published in May this year.

As well as informing policy on air quality, the project aims to explore the opportunities for more deliberative forms of public engagement in policy-making within Defra.

The Citizen's Jury has been organised and managed on behalf of Defra by People, Science and Policy, an independent science consultancy.

During the weekend of the 21/22 January the jury heard from 9 witnesses on a range of air quality issues. These were:

• Professor Dick Derwent, independent consultant (Causes of poor air quality and the impact of the weather);
• Professor Frank Kelly, King's College London (Health effects of air pollution);
• Dr Mike Holland, Econometrics Research and Consulting (Measures to tackle poor air quality);
• Gavin Tringham, Head of Public Health, Birmingham City Council (Local policy);
• Martin Bigg, Environment Agency (Regulation and the future);
• Tim Williamson, Defra (National and international policy);
• Simon Barnes, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (Measures to tackle air pollution from transport);
• Dr David Carslaw, University of Leeds (Measures to reduce air pollution);
• Lesley James, Friends of the Earth (Measures to reduce air pollution).

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