Agenda item

Purpose: To set out the details of the Air Quality Project proposed by the Public Protection Partnership for which West Berkshire Council (on behalf of the Partnership) have been awarded £259,406 from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 

The Committee considered the report (Agenda item 7).  The report set out the details of the Air Quality Project proposed by the PPP for which West Berkshire Council (on behalf of the Partnership) had been awarded £259,406 from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Anna Smy, Strategic Manager, West Berkshire, presented the report which included a copy of the air quality newsletter which set out the work the team were doing, which they had continued to deliver during lockdown. Lockdown had presented an opportunity to look at the impact that changes in traffic levels had during this time.  The team were looking to reflect on what lessons could be learned from this by liaising with Highways Officers around traffic flow.  The team were currently expanding the details of the project plan and looking to submit a report to the West Berkshire Procurement Board before looking at a supplier for the monitoring equipment which made up about 50% of the budget that had been awarded.  In addition, there was funding for an Officer to support the service in delivering significant elements of the work. The Officer would be supported by colleagues in the Environmental Quality Team. The Joint Management Board would be updated on progress and there would be a Project Board with input from each authority. 

Ms Smy advised Members that air quality across all three areas was generally good though there were localised areas where the pollutant nitrogen dioxide had been identified as above the Government’s air quality objective and it had been necessary to declare air quality management areas.  The action plans which had resulted from this provided cross-Council solutions to improve the local air quality and due to their locations, they were also focused on traffic and vehicle related measures.  The grant would enable the group to look beyond the existing scope and monitoring to contribute to the wider national strategy as well as local issues. 

Ms Smy advised that the purpose of the project was to understand the true picture of the pollutant PM2.5 which included tyre debris and brake dust and which was 200 times smaller than a grain of sand.  Ms Smy added that PM2.5 could be breathed in and get lodged in the lungs as well as travel to other organs in the body.  Pollutant levels nationally had been relatively stable since 2009, e.g. nitrogen dioxide had naturally decreased due to improved vehicles and greener fleets but PM2.5 had plateaued.

Currently, only indicative maps were available to help assess the implications across the area which suggested the highest levels of exposure were between 11 and 12 micrograms per metre cubed compared to the WHO goal of 10 micrograms as an exposure level.  Ms Smy clarified that the purpose of the grant as stated by DEFRA was to provide support to develop and/or implement measures that delivered air quality benefits in the near future (one to two years).  The project would focus on developing solutions over the longer term by increasing awareness to encourage behavioural changes. Specifically, projects should contribute to reductions in air pollutant emissions and/or concentrations in areas in current and projected volumes.  Appendix B further outlined the areas the project would cover including competitions in schools, building on work that was already in place for anti-idling, promotional work and information and idling projects.  The project presented an opportunity to tackle air quality issues before required to do so by the Environment Bill and gave a clear baseline position which could support Transport Planning Teams, Public Health and other teams to approve the appropriate services to protect residents and businesses in the area. 

Councillor Parry Batth thanked Ms Smy for the report.

Councillor Chris Bowring asked what effect on levels of pollution electric vehicles would have as they became more available and replaced petrol and diesel vehicles.  Ms Smy said that with regard to nitrogen dioxide it was predicted that as more electric vehicles were in use the levels would start to drop off, but pollutants such as PM2.5 would remain an issue as there were a lot of other contributing sources such as sea salt which were not traffic related.  Councillor Bowring also asked whether it would it be a useful statistic to have as to how many electric vehicles were being used.  Ms Smy said traffic breakdown was only looked at in terms of HGV’s, cars and motorbikes but there were companies that estimated nationally what percentage of the fleet was electric and that figure could be applied locally to give a rough estimate but there was no specific data.

Councillor Hilary Cole commented that the more work that could be done in schools with children would help to effect the behavioural change that the project was seeking to achieve.

Councillor John Harrison asked for clarification in the report that the health impact of the project was considered a ‘neutral area’.  Ms Smy said this was a neutral area because there would be some health benefits hopefully arising from improvements made as a result of the project but there might also be a negative impact if it was identified that it was PM2.5 affecting the health of some people for which improvements could not be made.  The negative aspect might come from identifying that levels were above the national objective and the project was unable to affect change, particularly if the pollutants were naturally occurring and beyond the project’s control.

Councillor John Porter praised the Officers for securing the grant which would hopefully see an improvement in air quality and thanked the Officers for their hard work.

Councillor Chris Turrell noted that the Downshire Way monitoring equipment had been turned off due to roadworks and asked whether all other monitoring had continued uninterrupted throughout 2020/the pandemic giving a clear picture of NO2 levels.  Ms Smy confirmed that the four NO2 data graphs related to the continuous monitoring units which were in place in addition to around 120 other locations where levels were monitored for monthly data which backed up the data from the continuous monitoring units.

Councillor James Cole said his understanding of the report was that it felt like a success to the benefit of all three Councils.  Ms Smy agreed and said the project would work with schools across all three areas, obtain data across all areas and work together with the one air quality team across each area.  There were separate Highways Teams and Transport Teams but learning and best practice would be drawn from all of these to learn what worked well in support of the work undertaken by the Air Quality Project Team.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.