Urban and river flooding: Comparison of flood risk management approaches in the UK and China and an assessment of future knowledge needs

Increased urbanisation, economic growth, and long-term climate variability have made both the UK and China more susceptible to urban and river flooding, putting people and property at increased risk. This paper presents a review of the current flooding challenges that are affecting the UK and China and the actions that each country is undertaking to tackle these problems. Particular emphases in this paper are laid on (1) learning from previous flooding events in the UK and China, and (2) which management methodologies are commonly used to reduce flood risk. The paper concludes with a strategic research plan suggested by the authors, together with proposed ways to overcome identified knowledge gaps in flood management. Recommendations briefly comprise the engagement of all stakeholders to ensure a proactive approach to land use planning, early warning systems, and water-sensitive urban design or redesign through more effective policy, multi-level flood models, and data driven models of water quantity and quality

Growing old in England: economic and social issues

This paper examines the economic and social impact of changes in the duration of working life for the 80 per cent of older adults living in urban England. While some people are experiencing extended retirement because of moving out of paid work in their fifties, a growing minority of those beyond the state retirement age continue in paid employment. This paper highlights the considerable challenges for urban policy makers in addressing the economic and social inclusion of all older adults

Exercise carried out by EuroHealthNet members, led by EuroHealthNet and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)

Portugal - Survey respondents and Workshop participants: Caldas de Almeida, Teresa - National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Head of Health Promotion Unit; Costa, Alexandra - National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Senior Technical ExpertExecutive summary: recommendations for action: The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world unprepared and has changed the shape of public health – and of our lives – for the foreseeable future. A group of senior public health officials from national and regional public health agencies across Europe came together to discuss current developments, the interrelated complexities and implications for their work in the near and longterm future. This report reflects their insights into some of the most pressing societal challenges and trends for public health in the years ahead, adopting a broad definition of health which encompasses social and environmental factors. Challenges considered include the rise in social and health inequalities, the increasing pressure on health systems, and negative impacts on population mental health. They reflect both direct as well as indirect impacts of the crisis on health, such as for instance unemployment and its pathways to ill-health. Climate change and (further) environmental degradation were highlighted as key longterm challenges. The exercise also included setting out opportunities, such as the fact that public health has been put in the spotlight and is at the centre of political agendas and public mindsets. The group concluded that “building back better” from the pandemic could provide an opportunity to strengthen health promotion and disease prevention, to bring more sectors together around the topic of health, including mental health and to enable citizens to adopt healthier, more sustainable behaviours. The importance of community action and social cohesion during the pandemic also provides opportunities to boost local level initiatives and networks. Over the next months and years, actions need to be taken to tackle the challenges at the root level, cushion the impacts of crisis and mitigation measures and encourage positive developments. Public health actors and agencies continue to have a pivotal role to ensuring a resilient, inclusive and sustainable recovery from the pandemic. This foresight exercise led to a draft set of recommendations for how different actors can help bring this about. The recommendations were discussed and validated in a EuroHealthNet partnership workshop in November 2020 and reflect this exchangeAim: EuroHealthNet and its member organisations have important roles to play in the future of public health in Europe, as well as on the ground in their home countries. They monitor, analyse and act to protect and improve the health of the population. This foresight exercise aimed to understand and discuss some of the trends and challenges but also the potential opportunities that have arisen from the pandemic, to inform members’ strategies and their work. It also sought to provide input for EuroHealthNet’s strategy for the coming years and explore how the partnership can positively contribute to “building back better”. The exercise, and this report, also aims to be useful to the broader stakeholder community, working on or around public health at local, national and EU level.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The potential impact of reforms to the essential parameters of the council tax

Council Tax was introduced in Britain in 1993 and represents a unique international property tax. There is a growing belief that it is time to reform the number and structure of council tax bands but such views have a minimal empirical base. This paper sets out to assess the impact on personal and local government finances, and extends the analysis to the role of the tax multipliers linked to each band. The research is based on the experience of a representative sample of local authorities in Scotland. A statistical revaluation for 2000 is estimated for the existing eight band system, and from this base a ten band system is calculated. Financial implications are then simulated for each local authority taking account of central resource equalisation mechanisms. The results indicate that increases in bands will have little impact on the burden of the council tax compared with regular revaluations. Changing the tax multiplier range has the greatest impact on local authority finances and council tax payments

Private finance for the delivery of school projects in England

This paper analyses the use of the private finance initiative (PFI) approach to deliver school projects in England. The findings are based on case-study research in the Building Schools for the Future scheme (BSF), the largest single capital investment in SO years to rebuild and renew all of England's secondary schools. Up to half of the school infrastructure is to be procured by PFI contracts. A major concern has been the high cost associated with PFI procurement and any subsequent changes to scope. Furthermore, in some cases PFI-funded schools have been closed soon after completion; at great cost to the public sector. The aim of this research was therefore to understand the underlying reasons for these problems. The main conclusion is that the difficulties in BSF arise from not sorting out strategic issues and instituting appropriate organisational frameworks before engaging the private sector. The result of this is a lack of clarity about the long-term needs and end user aspirations. A brief outline of current programme management methods is given and it is suggested that this might be integral to the successful delivery of schools using private finance. A clear strategic vision that cascades into projects via programmes will ensure that the school infrastructure is appropriate for the anticipated strategic benefits and is aligned to the overall service delivery ambitions

The development of highway nuisance perception. Experiences of residents along the Southern Ring Road in Groningen, the Netherlands.

The perception of highway nuisance i.e. noises, air pollution and barrier-effects, is associated with negative effects on health and quality of life. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the development of highway nuisance perception among residents. Interviews were conducted with residents in 32 households living along the Southern Ring Road, a highway which crosses various neighbourhoods in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. Various themes emerged from the interviews which were important in the development of residents’ perceptions of highway nuisance. For example, our interviews showed that residents who had not explicitly chosen to live next to a highway were more acutely affected by the negative externalities of that highway later. Perceived environmental changes, often due to governmental actions such as new/extended noise barriers, removal of trees and newly constructed buildings causing noise reflection, also played a role in the interviewees’ development of nuisance perception. In addition, the interviewees indicated that expectations about future highway developments influenced their current perception of highway nuisance: described as anticipation effects. Interviewees also indicated that recent information about the potentially harmful effects of air pollution increased their concerns about living near the highway. A final theme discussed were differences in the extent to which residents were able to develop coping strategies to reduce the amount of highway nuisance perception. The participants’ experiences indicate the importance of further integration between the planning of highway infrastructure and the broader environment in order to reduce nuisance perceptions and improve residential quality near highways

An Adverse Outcome Pathway for Sensitization of the Respiratory Tract by Low-Molecular-Weight Chemicals: Building Evidence to Support the Utility of In Vitro and In Silico Methods in a Regulatory Context

Sensitization of the respiratory tract is an important occupational health challenge, and understanding the mechanistic basis of this effect is necessary to support the development of toxicological tools to detect chemicals that may cause it. Here we use the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework to organize information that may better inform our understanding of sensitization of the respiratory tract, building on a previously published skin sensitization AOP, relying on literature evidence linked to low-molecular-weight organic chemicals and excluding other known respiratory sensitizers acting via different molecular initiating events. The established key events (KEs) are as follows: (1) covalent binding of chemicals to proteins, (2) activation of cellular danger signals (inflammatory cytokines and chemokines and cytoprotective gene pathways), (3) dendritic cell activation and migration, (4) activation, proliferation, and polarization of T cells, and (5) sensitization of the respiratory tract. These events mirror the skin sensitization AOP but with specific differences. For example, there is some evidence that respiratory sensitizers bind preferentially to lysine moieties, whereas skin sensitizers bind to both cysteine and lysine. Furthermore, exposure to respiratory sensitizers seems to result in cell behavior for KEs 2 and 3, as well as the effector T cell response, in general skewing toward cytokine secretions predominantly associated with T helper 2 (Th2) response. Knowledge gaps include the lack of understanding of which KE(s) drive the Th2 polarization. The construction of this AOP may provide insight into predictive tests that would in combination support the discrimination of respiratory-sensitizing from non- and skin-sensitizing chemicals, a clear regulatory need

Reproductive effects in two species of native freshwater gastropod mollusc exposed to 17β-oestradiol or an environmentally relevant mixture of oestrogenic chemicals in outdoor mesocosms

Recent evidence suggests that molluscs may be sensitive to the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in a similar manner to vertebrates, such as fish. Despite this (with the exception of TBT-induced imposex in marine gastropods), molluscs have been largely overlooked in the field of endocrine disruption. Life-cycle studies were conducted in which two species of native UK freshwater gastropod molluscs (the hermaphrodite Planorbarius corneus and the gonochorist Viviparus viviparus) were exposed to either 17β-oestradiol or environmentally relevant mixtures of chemicals known to be oestrogenic to vertebrates and to be present in UK treated sewage effluents (TSE) and rivers. Adult snails were exposed for four months in outdoor mesocosms, fed by river water, over the spring and summer (breeding season) in order to examine effects on reproductive output, growth and mortality. Furthermore, offspring (F1s) were also developmentally exposed over the same period. F1 juvenile snails were then depurated in river water for nine months (over winter) after which time their growth, survival, and reproductive success were measured in further un-dosed river water mesocosm studies in the following spring/summer. Histopathology was used to determine immediate effects of chemical exposure on adult and F1 snails’ reproductive health. Histopathology was also used to determine long lasting effects of chemical exposure on depurated F1s. Exposure to oestrogenic chemicals resulted in a range of effects, including modulated fecundity and growth in F0 adults, to retardation of growth, sexual development and fecundity in developmentally exposed F1s. Exposure to mixtures of oestrogenic chemicals also resulted in possible modulation of the immune system, resulting in increased parasitism and over winter mortality of exposed F1s compared to snails exposed to river water alone. Differences in sensitivity and response to exposure between the two species and the generations were also observed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Reproductive effects in two species of native freshwater gastropod mollusc exposed to 17β-oestradiol or an environmentally relevant mixture of oestrogenic chemicals in outdoor mesocosms

Recent evidence suggests that molluscs may be sensitive to the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in a similar manner to vertebrates, such as fish. Despite this (with the exception of TBT-induced imposex in marine gastropods), molluscs have been largely overlooked in the field of endocrine disruption. Life-cycle studies were conducted in which two species of native UK freshwater gastropod molluscs (the hermaphrodite Planorbarius corneus and the gonochorist Viviparus viviparus) were exposed to either 17β-oestradiol or environmentally relevant mixtures of chemicals known to be oestrogenic to vertebrates and to be present in UK treated sewage effluents (TSE) and rivers. Adult snails were exposed for four months in outdoor mesocosms, fed by river water, over the spring and summer (breeding season) in order to examine effects on reproductive output, growth and mortality. Furthermore, offspring (F1s) were also developmentally exposed over the same period. F1 juvenile snails were then depurated in river water for nine months (over winter) after which time their growth, survival, and reproductive success were measured in further un-dosed river water mesocosm studies in the following spring/summer. Histopathology was used to determine immediate effects of chemical exposure on adult and F1 snails’ reproductive health. Histopathology was also used to determine long lasting effects of chemical exposure on depurated F1s. Exposure to oestrogenic chemicals resulted in a range of effects, including modulated fecundity and growth in F0 adults, to retardation of growth, sexual development and fecundity in developmentally exposed F1s. Exposure to mixtures of oestrogenic chemicals also resulted in possible modulation of the immune system, resulting in increased parasitism and over winter mortality of exposed F1s compared to snails exposed to river water alone. Differences in sensitivity and response to exposure between the two species and the generations were also observed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo