The Utility of the UK Pollution Panels in Achieving Integrated Pollution Control

The nature of the pollution process predicates a need to integrate the activities of the different bodies engaged in controlling environmental pollution. In Britain, it has been suggested that integrated control (the best practicable environmental option—BPEO) could be achieved by local liaison in the form of pollution panels. Because pollution panels have general aims, are usually large, do not usually include all the relevant control authorities, meet infrequently, and cover only 11% of the districts of England and Wales, and because industrial members are reluctant to discuss their affairs in ‘public’, it is concluded that they are not, as presently constituted, the appropriate bodies to implement the BPEO concept. Some of the pollution panels have, however, created the ‘climate of opinion’ and the informal contacts which would enable specific BPEO cases to be discussed by technical working groups drawn mainly from the panel's membership. Nevertheless, informal local liaison does not appear to be a particularly promising method of achieving integrated pollution control.