Issue - meetings

Air Quality Action Plan

 

 

Meeting: 15/12/2015 - Cabinet (Item 6)

6 Air Quality Action Plan pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Background:

 

This report provided details of the Air Quality Action Plan which had been developed in accordance with the Environment Act 1995 and the Council’s Local Transport Plan.

 

A public consultation on the draft Air Quality Action Plan was undertaken between 8 June and 30 August 2015, and included consultations with internal departments and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Areas (DEFRA). As a result of the consultation exercise 108 surveys were completed and 19 individual letter responses were received. The analysis that had been undertaken on the data confirmed that the priorities the Council had identified within the plan were appropriate.

 

The Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered this report on 10 December 2015 and its views were set out in an addendum report.

 

A Diversity Impact Assessment had been undertaken on the proposals and this had highlighted that there was not likely to be any negative impact on any of the protected characteristic groups, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report.

 

Decision number:

Decision:

The Cabinet noted the comments of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

169/2015

The Cabinet approved the Air Quality Action Plan as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, to fulfil the Council’s statutory duty under the requirements of the Environment Act 1995, subject to the following amendments:

i)             Section 1.5 Reduction in NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) emission required – deletion of references to numbers of vehicles in High Street, Strood and Luton Arches (page 44 of the Cabinet agenda).

ii)            Section 2.1 Action Plan Workshops – deletion of reference to bypasses (pages 45-46 of the Cabinet agenda).

The Cabinet noted that the Action Plan identified 12 actions to improve air quality, which range from transport/ highway actions through to public education and advice. Some of these measures were already being implemented or progressed by the Council, so would not cause any additional burden on services.

 

Reasons:

 

Medway has a statutory duty under the requirements of the Environment Act 1995 to produce an Air Quality Action Plan and work towards implementing the measures within the Action Plan.

 

Approval of the plan was a positive step towards supporting the most vulnerable in our community as those groups are more adversely affected by poor air quality across Medway.

 

Approval of the Action Plan also provides Medway with some protection against infraction fines being passed down to the local authority by Central Government.