Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director - Highways and Public Protection

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Director - Highways and Public Protection that updated on local air quality management activities and improvement actions underway in Sefton during 2024.

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 indicated that to provide accurate data on pollution levels in Sefton and as part of ongoing duties, officers continued to undertake extensive air pollution monitoring using both DEFRA approved real time automatic monitoring systems and diffusion tubes which provided average annual levels; and that Sefton operated one of the largest monitoring networks in the City Region with officers consistently reviewing monitoring locations and activities to ensure the air quality situation in the borough was effectively captured.

The report also provided information on:

·       Results of particulate matter and NO2 monitoring

·       A summary of monitoring results in 2024

·       Actions to improve air quality which included School Streets air quality monitoring, engagement with HGV fleet operators, SCOOT (Split Cycle and Offset Optimisation Technique) Validation and Strategy Development Project, Millers Bridge Study – PhD Student Sponsorship, Emissions Enforcement - Joint  Sefton/DVSA emissions monitoring enforcement project and the Clean Air Plan / Air Quality Action Plan

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, and that efforts would be focussed on bringing forward air quality improvements in the AQMAs to ensure appropriate targeted measures were developed to tackle this problem.

The Committee also received a presentation from Greg Martin, Environmental Health and Licensing Service Manager on local air quality management activities/actions in Sefton during 2024. The presentation provided information on:

·       Local air quality management

·       Air Quality Management Areas

·       Air quality monitoring

·       2023 NO2 automatic monitoring - results and trends

·       NO2 diffusion tube results 2023

·       2023 PM10 results

·       PM2.5 - automatic monitoring

·       Actions to improve air quality

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

·       Discussions with Peel Ports regarding the use of alternative freight methods other than HGV’s to transport goods to the docks

·       improvement actions implemented by Sefton to reduce levels of NO2 in this area by the introduction of Port booking systems to reduce peak hour traffic and the ECOstars fleet recognition scheme

·       HGV fleet engagement and liaison with manufacturers and hauliers to ensure the use of Euro VI vehicles rather than the more polluting Euro V

·       Campaigns with schools to encourage parents/carers to cease using vehicles to drop off children at school; and the associated problems of traffic problems in the vicinity of schools

·       The potential impact of increased traffic on Sefton’s highway network due to the operation of Everton’s new stadium at nearby Bramley Moore Dock

·       Methods to optimise the use of the SCOOT Validation and Strategy Development Project

·       In respect of the Millers Bridge Study and the joint PhD study that had been developed by Sefton with Liverpool and John Moores Universities, the costs to Sefton for acting as a partner and sponsoring the PHD student

·       Air quality problems caused by scrap metal operations in and around the dock estate and how the Environment Agency monitored and controlled this

·       Pollution problems caused by container ships when approaching the port, and then within the dock estate, and the health impacts on local residents; and work undertaken by Public Health to monitor such impacts

·       Problems caused in the Crosby area by coaches laying up and leaving their engines running whilst waiting to pick up pupils from local schools

·       Had traffic data/analysis been undertaken to assess the impact of vehicular movements in the Crosby area following the opening of Brooms Cross Road

·       The air pollution impacts on those residents moving into new housing developments adjacent to Brooms Cross Road

·       The potential to measure what % increase in HGV traffic would have in % terms on air quality

RESOLVED: That: