This dissertation studies the policy process which produced and implemented the Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) system in 1990, administered by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP). It assesses how IPC was implemented in terms of setting pollution control standards, hQWIPC compares with the air pollution regime it replaced, and in terms of IPC's policy output. Policy network concepts are used to analyse the networks of interaction between policy actors as they seek to influence the policy process. The research involved interviews with these policy actors, plus analysis of relevant documentation - including a content analysis of the new IPC public register. The analysis is presented historically, beginning with the policy network of regulator and industry which negotiated air pollution controls. Public interest groups criticised this regime in the early 1970s for the informal, consensual, and confidential way it set and enforced air pollution standards. During the 1980s, European legislation put pressure upon domestic pollution control practice. Industry began lobbying for improvements to the flexible British regime as a bulwark against European formalism. Several factors led to HMJP's creation and IPC introduction, including European and industrial pressures, but also a belief by government that change had deregulatory potential. Regulatory procedures under IPC are more transparent and formal. However, standard setting was at HMIP's discretion, to be exercised during IPC implementation. HMIP initially intended to break from the past and do this at arms'length from industry. Analysis of this implementation stage uses the organic chemicals sector for case study. It explains why IPC has suffered an 'implementation deficit' compared to HMIP's initial intentions. Moreover, improvements to industrial pollution control are negotiated in a policy network similar to its air pollution predecessor. It is argued that within the formal legal framework, persists an infonnal, consensual, and somewhat opaque pollution regime.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:318496 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Smith, Adrian Paul |
| Publisher | University of Sussex |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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