Environmental Quality & Social Deprivation Phase II: National Analysis of Flood Hazard, IPC Industries & Air Quality

This report describes work completed under Environment Agency R&D Project E2-
067/1 on Environmental Quality and Social Deprivation Data Analysis. The aim of the
research was to 'improve the Environment Agency's understanding of the relationship
between environmental quality and social deprivation in order to inform the
Environment Agency's policy position on environmental quality'. The objectives of the
study were to:

1. Evaluate existing data and research for the relationship between environmental
quality – with particularly reference to the Agency's environmental priorities
(e.g. air and water quality, flooding) and social deprivation (as measured by the
Index of Multiple Deprivation);

2. Identify gaps in the current evidence base, which restrict the development of an
Agency policy on environmental equality;

3. Critically appraise the existing methodology used by the Environment Agency
to explore the extent to which environmental conditions vary across socially
deprived wards (as identified by the Index of Multiple Deprivation);

4. Identify the value of, and priorities for, more detailed quantitative analysis of
environmental data sets and propose appropriate methodologies for conducting
this analysis;

5. Conduct statistical analysis of data sets associated with areas for which the
Environment Agency has regulatory responsibility and those relating to
deprivation; and

6. Make appropriate recommendations for Agency policy responses and further
research.