Championing Clean Air for All: Dr Helen Venfield on Inequality, Action, and What to Expect at Routes to Clean Air 2025

Q: Helen, you’re chairing the ‘Inequalities’ session at this year’s Routes to Clean Air conference. Why is this topic so important right now?

Helen: Clean air isn’t just an environmental issue or just about emissions — it’s about fairness and health. Evidence highlights that air quality is worse in more deprived areas. Typically, these areas are adjacent to busy roads or on the edge of industrial areas. There are several socioeconomic factors that define levels of deprivation. However, typically we see these are areas of lower income, minority communities and vulnerable people predisposed to the impacts of air quality. Therefore, there are increased health risks associated with air quality in these areas. By raising awareness of these disparities, we can drive change, influence policy to focus on these areas, thereby mitigating the health risks of air pollution and achieve environmental justice for all.

Q: The session brings together influential voices and notable expertise in the field of disparities. What can attendees expect from this discussion?

Helen: I am looking forward to the three presentations from Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Professor Jo Barnes and Nathan Gray, and hearing about the available evidence linking air quality to health impacts, and imbalances between more affluent and more deprived areas in the UK. I expect the session to be insightful and thought provoking, and I’m hoping that delegates will gain a better understanding of what can be done to address such inequalities.

Q: Day 1 also features major figures like Professor Sir Stephen Holgate, Professor Frank Kelly, and an interview with Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE on Day 2. What makes Routes to Clean Air such a significant event in the air quality calendar?

Helen: Routes to Clean Air is the annual conference arranged and hosted by the IAQM and IES. It has been running for 10 years and is always topical and relevant, with a lot of work put into arranging it. Air quality is at the top of the health agenda, having an economic impact of £8-20 billion and around 30,000 deaths in the UK, as estimated by the Royal College of Physicians in their 2025 report. RTCA now attracts a wider range of professionals involved in air quality impacts and research, covering health, socioeconomics, cost-benefit analysis in addition to policy makers – as evidenced through the breadth of topics and presenters in the RTCA25 programme.

Q: On Day 2, you will be, along with your colleague Hannah Broomfield-Payne (Associate Director in Air Quality), presenting on “Progress in LAQM in England.” What insight will this session bring?

Helen: Whilst there is still much work to be done in improving air quality for all, it is important to recognise what has also been achieved. Hannah and I will be reflecting on the government’s Local Air Quality Management regime and the statutory obligation on local authorities and recent trends in local air quality metrics. We operate the LAQM Support Helpdesk and provide assistance to local authorities in their statutory duties, and are therefore ideally placed to review the progress made in recent years.

Q: What do you hope attendees will take away from the conference this year?

Helen: This year’s conference covers a wide range of topics under the theme of air pollution, which shows the breadth of impact of poor air quality. As such, there is something for everyone who works or is interested in the industry, and I believe that attendees will leave the conference with a much more holistic understanding of how air quality impacts us all and our everyday lives.