Air Quality Strategy
Air quality is an important issue within our Area. The Metropolitan Authorities have all completed air quality reviews and assessments. Annual average levels of nitrogen dioxide and, in some cases, particulates (PM10 particles) give most cause for concern out of the seven pollutants considered. In response, Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) have been declared across our Area, except in Solihull.
Our air quality strategy has three elements:
- work with the Highways Agency on emissions from motorway traffic
- detailed local initiatives to tackle local 'hotspots'
- policies which encourage more sustainable transport with less impact on air quality
Motorways passing through the Metropolitan Area are a major source of vehicle emissions and there are a number of AQMAs in the M6 corridor. We are working with the HA to develop Route Management Strategies which tackle air quality. We will also work alongside the Active Traffic Management pilot, to ensure that control systems for motorway and local traffic are linked and reduce queuing and stop-start driving.
Local hotspots will generally require individual combinations of engineering and management techniques.
Our broader policies reflects two main strands of our strategy: more efficient use of the network and enhanced public transport. Measures outlined earlier in this LTP2 all have a role in reducing congestion and emissions, and promoting more sustainable forms of transport. The Metropolitan Authorities will continue to promote alternative fuel vehicles, both for use within their own fleets and to other users.
A Metropolitan group of Transport and Environmental Health Officers has been established to tackle air quality. They can offer advice on the best approaches to different problems.
Air Quality Action Plans are in the process of being developed in AQMAs across the Metropolitan Area. For example, Wolverhampton City Council has taken the decision to designate the whole of Wolverhampton an AQMA. This decision embraces the provisional air quality objectives and requires a single Action Plan incorporating all wards. The Council has set up a Cross-Service Officer Group to oversee the preparation of the Air Quality Action Plan. It is the intention of the City Council to consider a complex suite of proposed actions with the aim of improving air quality, including measures to reduce vehicle emissions, improve public transport, reduce traffic volumes and promote changes to travel modes and demand.
Dudley MBC published its Air Quality Action Plan for Brierley Hill in October 2004 following declaration of the AQMA in March 2003. The AQMA was declared for annual mean concentrations of NO2, mostly from road traffic. NO2 concentrations in certain parts of this AQMA are likely to remain above the 2005 annual mean national objective unless action is taken. The Sustainable Access Network is the longer-term response to address the problem. Its primary function will be to reduce traffic congestion in the High Street and roads connecting Brierley Hill to the nearby Merry Hill shopping complex and Waterfront commercial development. This will provide a reduction in traffic generated NO2 thereby improving air quality within the AQMA.
Final approval to make the Order for the Sedgley AQMA was granted by the Dudley MBC Executive Committee in February 2005. The Air Quality Action Plan proposes a combination of remedial measures including improvements to local traffic management and control, information and awareness initiatives, promotion of alternatives to the car and improvements to local public transport services.
Coventry City Council has declared three AQMAs due to the predicted exceedence of the 2005 target for the NO2 annual mean. Action Plans for all three are currently being developed. Monitoring has shown that NO2 annual mean levels in Burges in the city centre (AQMA1) are 72 microgrammes per cubic metre, 81% above the target annual mean. The major source is cars, HGVs and stationary buses often with engines running. The Coventry Bus Rapid Transit Major Scheme can be expected to help address the latter issue.
Sandwell MBC have received clearance from DEFRA to extend the period for developing an Action Plan by twelve months as the whole of the borough is about to be declared an AQMA. It is therefore not proposed to create action plans for the six existing small AQMAs.
Further details of our approach to Air Quality issues is set out in ‘Air Quality Strategy Statement’.