Purpose of Report
1. To inform
of the production and completion of the council’s new joint
Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) that now needs to be formally
adopted by the Licensing Committee in line with the council’s
Constitution.
Strategic Objectives
2. Vale of
White Horse District Council’s Corporate Plan 2020-2024;
Tackling the Climate Emergency; Update the Air Quality Action Plans
for our Air Quality Management Areas.
Background
3. Under Part
IV of the Environment Act, local authorities have a central role in
achieving improvements in air quality. Local authorities are
required to assess air quality in their area and to produce an Air
Quality Action Plan (AQAP) describing the measures that will be
taken to decrease air pollution to a level which achieves
compliance of the national objectives.
4. Based upon
the air quality data historically collected over the last 15 years,
there were three Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in Abingdon,
Botley and Marcham declared due to exceedances in the national air
quality objective for nitrogen dioxide.
5. Once a
council has declared an Air Quality Management Area, Defra require
the council to produce an AQAP to reduce levels of the pollutant(s)
that are exceeding the national objective level. In this
case, the actions within the new AQAP are only aimed at reducing
levels of nitrogen dioxide, but they will also improve levels of
other pollutants such as particulate matter.
6. In line
with Defra’s guidance, the current AQAP for the Vale of White
Horse (adopted 2015) should now be replaced as this was were first
adopted more than five years ago.
7. As
identified in the business cases submitted last year, and due to
the technical nature of the work, an environmental consultancy was
appointed to deliver an updated AQAP, as they have the specific
skills and knowledge required to produce a meaningful output.
Following the council’s procurement process, the contract for
the environmental consultancy service was awarded to Atkins
Ltd.
8. Following
completing of the traffic surveys to inform the source
apportionment study (which determined how much the different
pollution sources contribute to local air pollution levels), a long
list of potential air quality actions was produced by Atkins and
shared with council officers.
9. An initial
stakeholder workshop to discuss this long list of actions was held
on 10 Feb 2023. Involved in this meeting were the leader of
the council and our cabinet member, representatives from
Oxfordshire County Council and National Highways and key council
officers.
10. As a result of the learning from
this meeting, council officers set up individual meetings with ward
councillors of the areas covered by one of the six air quality
management areas (AQMAs). These took place over the week
commencing 06 March 2023, and officers discussed the specific
actions/measures for the ward with the respective
members.
11. The consultants, Atkins, then
assessed the cost benefits/impacts of each of these measures and
created a final recommended set of actions to be included in the
draft version of the new joint AQAP. This is Appendix 1 of
this report.
12. This AQAP has been compiled using
the Defra template which is very prescriptive on its layout
(including the format of the Air Quality Annual Status Reports
which are submitted to Defra each June).
13. A public consultation took place 15
June - 27 July 2023 to share the draft new AQAP with statutory
consultees and members of the public and seek their views on the
new plan. The council’s Community Engagement Team assisted
with this consultation exercise and council officers met with
representatives of Town and Parish Councils within an Air Quality
Management Area (AQMA), and District Councillors for those areas,
to discuss the draft document and understand their views.
Council officers also held public workshops in the market towns
within AQMAs to further engage with residents.
14. Following careful analysis of the
consultation responses received, the second draft AQAP was produced
in August 2023, ensuring the points raised by Defra in their
appraisal of the document were also taken onboard.
15. The AQAP includes actions which
apply more broadly across the district, but also specific sections
for each individual designated AQMA. The new AQAP clearly
identifies those responsible for delivering the actions (i.e.,
those that sit with the district councils and those that sit with
the key air quality partners, OCC and National Highways).
16. The detailed actions to improve air
quality can be found outlined in Tables 5.1- 5.4 on pages 45-49 of
the AQAP. A simplified summary of these actions can be found
within the Appendix 2 of this report.
17. This AQAP proposes the removal of
the Air Quality Management Areas for
Abingdon. This is due to the air quality pollution levels
having improved and are now considerably below the national air
quality objective levels. The advice from Defra to the council on
the revocation of AQMAs is as follows: “The revocation of an
AQMA should be considered following three consecutive years of
compliance with the relevant objective as evidenced through
monitoring. Where there have been no exceedances for the past five
years, local authorities must proceed with plans to revoke the
AQMA”.
According to the
LAQM Technical Guidance 2022: AQMAs should identify areas where
air quality objectives are not being met or are likely to be at
risk of not meeting them. We recognise the public perception of an
AQMA being revoked might be that air pollution is no longer a
problem in the area, however, keeping AQMAs in place longer than
required risks diluting their meaning and impacting public trust in
local air quality management.”
There have been no
exceedances of the national objectives in the Abingdon AQMA in
2017-2022 and therefore officers will recommend revocation in the
next Annual Status Report to Defra (due June 2024). Following
Defra’s consent with the proposal to remove the AQMAs,
officers will start the process of formally revoking them by making
the same recommendation to the council’s Licensing
Committee.
18. The final version AQAP was signed
off by Defra as part of their final appraisal on 07 December
2023. There only comment of merit being "Overall, the content
of the final AQAP itself is well considered and commensurate with
the concentrations monitored. It is considered accepted on the
proviso that quantification of measure B1 is added to the document
when available". Measure B1 relates to National Highways completing
their feasibility study for their section of the A34 in Botley.
19. The final version AQAP was signed
off by Defra as part of their final appraisal on 07 December
2023.
20. Cabinet approved this final version
of the AQAP to go forward to the council’s Licensing
Committee for formal adoption on 19 Jan 2024.
Financial Implications
21. Potential funding for the measures
included in the AQAP have been identified and is specified with the
action plan. Actions will only progress when funding has been
allocated or secured by the district council or by our external air
quality partners (Oxfordshire County Council and/or National
Highways).
Legal Implications
22. The council’s Licensing
Committee is required to formally adopt the new AQAP, as set out on
page 66 of the Constitutions of the Vale of White Horse District
Council (31 Oct 2023):
“General
Licensing Committee procedure rules
Purpose of the General Licensing Committee:
1. The General
Licensing Committee is responsible for determining issues relating
to licensing and registration.
(…)
23. Paragraph 3 It is also
responsible for policies on contaminated land, air quality,
health and safety, street trading and street naming. A three-member
sub-committee considers individual cases.”
24. The legal
implications are set out in the body of the report. On adoption by
the Licensing Committee, the council will be responsible for
compliance with the obligations in the AQAP.
Climate and ecological impact implications
25. Delivery of the actions proposed in
the new AQAP will lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,
therefore contributing positively towards the council’s
climate change targets. There is overlap between the AQAP actions
and our Climate Action Plans, for example on upgrading the
council-owned vehicle fleet, and with the Oxfordshire Net Zero
Route Map and Action Plan, for example on accelerating the rollout
of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
26. There is currently no need to use
the Climate Impact Assessment Tool at this stage because the new
AQAP is only a plan which outlines actions and projects. The
projects themselves will then require their own individual climate
impacts assessed when they are actioned.
Equalities implications
27. An Equality Impact
Assessment has been completed and there are no implications
identified.
Risks
28.If the draft AQAP
is not formally adopted, Defra may issue a formal wording to
require the council to produce and adopt a new AQAP. According to
Defra’s Guidance on the LAQM duties of Local Authorities, the
councils’ AQAP must be reviewed as it's over 5 years old. In
previous correspondence, Defra have designated the adoption of a
new AQAP as one of the imminent priorities for the council in terms
of air quality.
29.Unable to secure
required funding to progress actions outlined in the
AQAP.
30.Progress or
completion of some of the actions within the AQAP might not be
completed within the timescales outlined in the document (Tables
5.1-5.4). This would be due to responsibility of a specific action
sitting with one of the council’s Air Quality Partners (i.e.
OCC, National Highways, etc). As part of the AQAP adoption
process, these Partners agreed to the completion of their actions.
Progress on each AQAP action will be monitored throughout the year
and reported annually as part of the council's Annual Status Report
to Defra (submitted each June).
Other Implications
31. Our Communications Team suggests
promotion of the AQAP when it is formally adopted. This will follow
on from the communications campaign carried out to support the
consultation in summer 2023. The new communications will apply to
the whole of the district but with special focus on the AQMAs.
32. No other implications have been
identified.
Conclusion
33. The new Air Quality Action Plan
should be formally adopted by the council’s Licensing
Committee.
Background Papers
·
Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) 2023-2028 final draft
