Issue - meetings

Report of Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety

Purpose of report

To approve the updated Air Quality Action Plan and confirm the revocation of two Air Quality Management Areas.

Recommendations

The Executive resolves:

To revoke AQMA No.2 (Horsefair/North Bar, Banbury) and AQMA No.3 (Bicester Road, Kidlington).

1.1         To approve the Air Quality Action Plan 2024.

Resolved

(1)          That the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) No.2 (Horsefair/North Bar, Banbury) and Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) No.3 (Bicester Road, Kidlington) be revoked.

(2)          That Air Quality Action Plan 2024 be approved.

The Head of Regulatory Services and Community Safety submitted a report to approve the updated Air Quality Action Plan and confirm the revocation of two Air Quality Management Areas.

Resolved

(1)          That the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) No.2 (Horsefair/North Bar, Banbury) and Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) No.3 (Bicester Road, Kidlington) be revoked.

(2)          That Air Quality Action Plan 2024 be approved.

Reasons

In AQMA No.2 (Horsefair/North Bar, Banbury) and AQMA No.3 (Bicester Road, Kidlington) the measured levels of nitrogen dioxide have been below the air quality objective of 40µg/m³ for the last five years. The guidance from Defra is that revocation of an AQMA should be considered following three consecutive years of compliance with the relevant objective ,and where there have been no exceedances for the past five years, the AQMA should be revoked. The Executive are therefore recommended to approve the revocation of these two AQMAs.

Where an AQMA has been declared for an exceedance of an air quality objective, it is a legal requirement for the Council to have an AQAP in place and then review it every five years. The current AQAP, approved by the Executive on 6 March 2017, has been updated in consultation with partners and to reflect the latest monitoring and traffic data. The Executive are therefore recommended to approve the Air Quality Action Plan 2024.

Alternative options

Option 1: To not revoke AQMA No.3 (Bicester Road, Kidlington) and AQMA No.2 (Horsefair/North Bar, Banbury). This option was rejected because local authorities are required to revoke AQMAs where there have been no exceedances of the relevant objective for the past five years.

Option 2: To not approve the Air Quality Plan 2024. This option was rejected because where there is an AQMA declared for an exceedance of an air quality objective, it is a legal requirement for the Council to have an AQAP in place (Environment Act 1995 as amended), and to review it every five years.