Consultation as Science Communication?  The Case of Local Air Quality Management

This site hosts the ESRC funded project: Consultation as Science Communication? The Case of Local Air Quality management (RES-1551-25-0044). It is a 2 year project undertaken by an interdisciplinary team of the  Air Quality Management Resource Centre, Graphic Science Unit  at UWE and the Department of Geography, University of Hull.

Thank you for visiting this Website! We sent questionnaire about consultation and communication to all local authorities in England and carried out case study research in 11 local authorities. Four regional workshops in Sheffield, Bristol, Stratford-upon-Avon, and London on air quality management consultation were carried out in 2006 to present the research outcomes and to provide a forum for local authorities for exchanging ideas and experiences on consultation. Outcomes of each workshop can be viewed here.

The project is now completed. We conclude that local authorities and their stakeholders' commitment to involve a range of stakeholders in the local air quality management (LAQM) consultation process is best enabled via experienced and effective 'local champions' within both the community and the local authority. Local authorities and their communities should, optimally, be able to access adequate resources to engage in the process levered by relevant funding streams. Perhaps the most critical determinant of 'better practice' in LAQM consultation is the link between consultation and subsequent decisions. Critically, stakeholder engagement should be timely and have the capacity to effect real change via a clear association with the LAQM decision-making process.

The major output from this work is the "Steps to Better Practice: guidance for local authorities on local air quality management consultation" (available in pdf). A brief summary of the project, the ESRC research report and publications are also available on this website.