Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director of Place (Highways and Public Protection)

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director of Place (Highways and Public Protection) that updated on local air quality management activities/actions in Sefton during 2023.

The report indicated that the Environment Act 1995 (the Act) placed a statutory duty on all Local Authorities to regularly review and assess air quality in their areas and produce a yearly Air Quality Annual Status Report (ASR) and implement actions/interventions to improve air quality where poor air quality existed; that evidence had shown that certain atmospheric pollutants were linked to poor health; that the Air Quality Regulations made under the Act specified the pollutants that must be considered against set standards and objectives, referred to as National Air Quality Standard (NAQS) Objectives; and Table 1 in the report detailed the 2 pollutants that were of concern in Sefton, namely Nitrogen Dioxide and Particulate Matter PM₁₀.

The report also detailed that where monitoring/modelling showed an exceedance of the NAQS, an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) must be declared by the Local Authority; that through air pollution monitoring and modelling four localised areas in South Sefton had been identified where levels of Nitrogen Dioxide had exceeded or were close to the annual average limit of 40 µg/m³  ; and that AQMA’s had been declared in the four locations at:

• Princess Way, Seaforth
• Millers Bridge, Bootle
• Crosby Road North/South Road, Waterloo
• Hawthorne Road/Church Road junction, Litherland

The report also provided information on:

·       The location of real time automatic monitoring stations; and the use of diffusion tubes to measure monthly NO₂ levels at 82 sites across the Borough

·       Results of particulate matter monitoring

·       PM2.5 monitoring

·       A summary of monitoring results in 2023

·       Actions to improve air quality which included Sefton Clean Air Plan Outline Business Case, Joint Sefton/ Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) Emissions Enforcement Project, School Streets air quality monitoring, traffic signal upgrade/incorporation of AQ sensors, and SCOOT (Split Cycle and Offset Optimisation Technique), Validation and Strategy Development Project

The report concluded that air quality in the majority of Sefton was within NAQS, but that the main on-going priority in Sefton for the coming years was to fully understand the effects that the predicted increase in HGVs due to port expansion would have on air quality and how this could be mitigated; that the development of the Outline Business Case for a Sefton based Clean Air Zone (CAZ) under the overarching Clean Air Plan was complete and had demonstrated that a corridor HGV charging CAZ covering the A5036 and A565 could achieve significant air quality improvements within the CAZ boundary and wider borough; and the progression of the CAP scheme to the next stage, i.e. Full Business Case, would depend on a number of factors, which included key risks and constraints identified in the OBC work along with identification of a funding source.

The Committee also received a presentation from Peter Moore, Assistant Director of Place (Highways and Public Protection) and Greg Martin, Principal Environmental Health Officer on local air quality management activities/actions in Sefton during 2023.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:

·       Any scrutiny of CAZ should be deferred until the Cabinet had agreed its way forward on the issue

·       The Government should consider a tax on old and polluting HGV’s

·       Peel Ports had an obligation to contribute to CAZ and should have a responsibility for its tenants on the port estate to reduce their activity causing pollution. Better cooperation with Peel Ports was required as pollution did not stop at the dock gate.

·       The increasing popularity of wood burning stoves had led to an increase in PM_2.5 pollution levels; and that the use of such stoves that complied with DEFRA standards should be promoted

·       It was acknowledged that trees/green barriers did not solve atmospheric pollution levels entirely but nonetheless, they were a low cost and visually aesthetic way to reduce levels

·       The urban greenway strategy currently being developed could help to reduce pollution levels

·       National air quality standards may be being met but it did not necessarily mean that we had healthy air 

·       Reference was made to Sefton’s Public Health Annual Report 2018/19 “Air Quality and Health in Sefton” 

RESOLVED: That: