Agenda item

DECISION

1.        That the results of the consultation exercise on the draft Air Quality Action Plan be noted.

2.        That the Air Quality Action Plan be recommended for formal submission to DEFRA for approval and adoption by the Council following consultation on the draft plan.

3.        That, once approved by DEFRA, an update report on progress on the Air Quality Action Plan be presented to Cabinet on a six monthly basis as requested by Cabinet.

Portfolio Holder and Officer

Cllr Stevens

ND

REASON FOR DECISION

Councillor Yvonne Stevens presented a report by the Head of Regulatory Services, which provided a summary of the response to the Council’s consultation exercise carried out between 19th February and 19th March 2020 regarding its draft Air Quality Action Plan and provided a final Air Quality Action Plan for submission to DEFRA for their approval.

Boston Borough Council had declared two Air Quality Management Areas known as Haven Bridge Road AQMA (2001) and Bargate Bridge AQMA (2005) due to air quality in these locations failing to meet the UK air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide. This primarily arose from high usage of private vehicles for making short journeys within Boston. The declaration of an AQMA placed a statutory obligation on the local authority to produce an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP).

A draft Air Quality Action Plan was developed by a steering group lead by Environmental Health composed of officers from across a number of Council departments and with colleagues from Lincolnshire County Council Highways and Public Health. A single plan has been developed as the air quality issues in both areas are the same.

The draft Air Quality Action Plan had previously been presented to the Environment & Performance Committee and Cabinet for comment, and consent was given to consult with a number of statutory, non-statutory consultees and the wider community as required by schedule 11 of the Environment Act 1995.

The consultation exercise on the draft plan ran between the 19^th February 2020 and 19^th March 2020 and a copy of the consultation plan was attached at appendix C.

There were two strands to the consultation. Direct correspondence to statutory consultees such as DEFRA, Environment Agency, Lincolnshire County Council, and neighbouring local authorities. In addition, direct correspondence was sent to other specific non-statutory consultees such as Sustrans, Port of Boston, NHS Trust, Public Health England, and Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce.

In terms of the specific statutory and non-statutory consultees, no responses were received to the consultation. The results of the consultation were disappointing considering that the implementation of the plan would need the cooperation of organisations within this group. Whilst no formal response was received from LCC Highways, they had already been part of the process of drafting the action plan with key officers sitting on the working group. In addition, regular meetings were held with LCC Highways Officers and LCC Councillors regarding transport in Boston (Boston Transport Group). Air quality was part of the remit of the group due to its direct association to traffic.

The second strand was an online public questionnaire. This was well publicised on the Council’s website, the Council’s Twitter and Facebook pages and the Boston Bulletin which was distributed to approximately 4000 recipients within the Borough.

The Portfolio Holder went through the 26 responses received from the wider community. These were generally supportive of the plan with only 8% disagreeing with the overall approach. The responses regarding the importance of proposed measures within the action plan were interesting, with 68% believing the most important were the provision of an outer distributor road and junction improvements to aid traffic flows. A summary of the responses received were set out in Appendix A of the report and there were more details within the appendices of the Action Plan itself.

The results of the consultation exercise had been incorporated into the final Air Quality Action Plan. No proposed actions within the draft plan had been amended following the consultation.

With the approval of the Cabinet, the Air Quality Action Plan would now be submitted to DEFRA through the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) portal for approval and be formally adopted by the Council subject to DEFRA’s approval of it.

The production of an Air Quality Action Plan did not resolve the air quality issues but provided a framework for what the Council would try to achieve to improve air quality within its two Air Quality Management Areas and beyond over the coming years. As previously stated, many of the actions within the plan were beyond the powers or remit of the Council and, therefore, for it to be successful in supplementing national air quality strategies implemented by Government, other partners would need to be willing to engage in its implementation. Of particular importance was the continuing support of Lincolnshire County Council in its role as Highway Authority.

In conclusion, the portfolio holder proposed the recommendations as set out in the report.

Members commended the report. However, there was disappointment at the lack of response from the statutory consultees, particularly as partnership working would be so important.      

One Member remarked that it was not surprising that the two Air Quality Management Areas had been declared, as there were around 38,000 traffic movements in these locations in 24 hours, and stressed that the answer would be an outer ring road and an eastern bypass, including the planting of a significant number of new trees, which would also help to improve air quality.

OTHER OPTIONS OR ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED

None.

RECORD OF ANY CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None.

RECORD OF ANY DISPENSATION GRANTED

None.