Agenda item

To provide an overview of the Annual Air Quality Status Report (ASR 2023) for awareness and noting.

To update the Committee on the Clean Air Lincolnshire, which is a county wide project.

The Head of Service – Public Protection presented the report which provided the Committee with an overview of the Annual Air Quality Status Report (ASR 2023) for awareness and noting and to update the Committee on the Clean Air Lincolnshire, which is a county wide project.

Under the Environment Act 1995, which was amended by the 2021 Environment Act and the associated Local Air Quality Management Framework. Local authorities had a duty to review and assess air quality against National Air Quality Standards. Local air quality in South Kesteven was managed via an extensive diffusion tube monitoring network compromising fifty-eight passive NO₂ diffusion tubes at thirty-five separate locations (some have triplicate/duplicate tubes at one location). The diffusion tube network is used to monitor NO₂ concentrations across the District, the tubes are located within Grantham and Stamford.

The ASR 2023, as reported in Appendix 1 of the repot identified the specific locations of the diffusion tubes on a map. 

Local authorities were required to produce an ASR report on an annual basis that covered the previous calendar year.

The report identifies that there were no exceedances of the air quality objectives at any of the passive monitoring sites.

Overall, the general trend showed that concentrations of NO₂ were decreasing, with all sites being below both the hourly and annual objective levels. However, there had been a slight increase observed in the concentrations at some sites from 2021 to 2022, as traffic levels within the area are starting to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The ASR identified that there were no recorded exceedances of the hourly mean objective for NO₂ when using the annual mean as a proxy for the hourly mean. Exceedances of this objective had not been predicted for the past 5 years.

The Clean Air Lincolnshire Project was a county-wide project that South Kesteven District Council were apart of. The project was funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and was led by Lincolnshire County Council.

The aim of the project was to raise public awareness of the issue of clean air for health, the environment and to provide actionable steps to improve local air quality and reduce health conditions related to air pollution.

A key aim of the project was to work in partnership with identified secondary schools within the County. For South Kesteven, Kings School in Grantham was participating in the project, which was also located within the Grantham Air Quality Management Area.

One Member queried whether any other schools had become involved within the monitoring of the air quality project.

Clarification was sought around the term ‘non-automatic site’.

It was noted that Appendix B highlighted a drop in figures in the month of December and why this was the case.

ACTION: For the Head of Service – Public Protection to provide background information on why there was a drop in figures in the month of December (Appendix B).

The Head of Service – Public Protection confirmed that no other schools were identified within the County as only one school was requested from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The Kings School was chosen due to being within the air quality management area.

The ‘non-automatic ‘route in terms of the diffusion tube were when someone had to physically collect the data in person. Automatic monitoring sites were when the data was provided by a system.

It was noted that one of the main areas affected by air quality was outside Kings School on Manthorpe Road. Concern was raised on the proposal of 2,700 new build houses over the next 5-10 years, that may utilise Manthorpe Road and worsen the air quality in the area.

It was suggested that the NO₂ levels may be affected by cold weather conditions and that tube readings should be read in the winter, when the statistics were low.

One Member requested that the Committee be provided with the Kings School data.

Castlegate had been closed between January – March 2022, however, there had been no significant impacts on the air quality statistics.

ACTION: For the Head of Service – Public Protection to provide information on the Castlegate figures.

One Member suggested that schools admission policies be revised, in order for the distance of the pupils house to be reviewed, which may assist in reducing traffic on Manthorpe Road.

It was queried how the Council could educate residents on air quality.

It was highlighted that the suggestion of receiving the data from Kings School could be included as a potential suggestion for the Air Quality Action Plan.

Education of pupils in schools had taken place within schools on the Clean Air Lincolnshire Project. It was confirmed that the education could be utilised on the Council’s website, to make it more known of.

It was noted that all monitoring points were within known areas of congestion and traffic lights. It was suggested that the monitoring points be more spread out to produce a true figure of the whole area.

One Member queried whether there was any monitoring on air quality levels outside of the large conurbations and towns. It was assumed that Lincolnshire had a low level of air pollution was due to the amount of green areas within the County. 

It was confirmed that the locations of the monitoring points could be reviewed in accordance with legislation, the air quality management areas and the height of the tubes.

Under the Environmental Protection legislation, the Council had statutory nuisance powers to assess any complaints around smoke nuisance from bonfires to determine whether it’s prejudicial to health or a nuisance.

That the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

1.    Notes the content of the Annual Air Quality Status Report (ASR 2023).

2.    Notes the update on Clean Air Lincolnshire, which is a county wide project.