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London Road LATLocal Air Quality
May 2017
Samuel Rouse MSc, Air Quality Brighton & Hove City Council
Brighton and Hove in Numbers• 600,000 people along the coastal strip • One of highest population densities in England• Major developments over the next decade• More than Ten million visitors a year• Across the AQMA 62% households do not own a car • Doubling of bus patronage since 1994• No major combustion plant or manufacturing industry• Poor air quality in confined spaces where people live close to roads is due to emissions from road traffic
• Several thousand dwellings at risk• First Local Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) 2004
The Air we breathe
• Superficially air quality framed like climate change as a global scale problem that people can react to with pessimism
• Something out of councillor control?• Not talking about the whole atmosphere • Specific places• Like road safety and bathing water quality
definitely a problem that requires local action to tackle hotspots
• Estimated 200 local deaths brought forward each year due to airborne pollution
Comparing Green House Gases with Pollutants Prejudicial to Human Health
• The UK contributes approximately 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions
• The transport sector in BHCC contributes about one quarter of the cities carbon dioxide emissions
• In contrast emissions from road transport contribute as much as 90% to nitrogen dioxide concentrations where people live
• The city has an Air Quality Management Area and Low Emission Zone because of none compliance with nitrogen dioxide ‐ neither designation is driven by consideration of greenhouse gases or carbon emissions
Who is Responsible for Air Quality?
World Health Organisation (WHO)
European Union
Department for Transport (DfT)
Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards
Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants
Department for the Environment (Defra)
Environment Agency
EHL: Environmental Protection
Health Directorate
Local Transport
Highways Agency
ReportingHealth impacts of fine particulate is on the set of Public Health Indicators Framework ‐ Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) delivers detailed investigations
Air quality has a designated chapter in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)
Key Performance Indicators reported to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT)
Air quality to be considered in all Planning, Highway and Tourist decisions response should be proportional to risk
Part IV states
Local Authorities have a duty toinvestigate air quality in theirareas.
LAQM assesses against setstandards for the protection ofhuman health. Nine pollutants.
Protection for the most vulnerablenot an average person.
Duty to declare an AQMA andwrite an AQAP if not compliantwith objectives that have becomelegally binding standards.
Air Quality Strategy Pollutants
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• Particulates (PM10)• Particles (PM2.5)• Benzene (C6H6)• 1,3 Butadiene
(C4H6)
• Lead (Pb)• Sulphur Dioxide
(SO2)• Carbon Monoxide
(CO)• Ozone (O3)• PAH
Personal ExposureNew epidemiological evidence for the health effects of pollution at an individual and population level.
Air pollution is the strongest environmental factor that influences life expectancy; asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart and blood health, the growth of lung tissue and the development of the brain.
Public concern about exposure to pollution.
Parents of young children interested in pollution impacts on their infants rather than themselves.
(July 2013) The Lancet linked air pollution to heart failure: this study suggests that acute exposure to air pollution at typical UK levels increases acute heart failure hospitalisation and heart failure mortality by 10%‐15%. The study suggested UK levels of pollution causes a Hazard Ratio for lung cancer of 1.88.
In general, sources of air pollution are strongly correlated and in some cases coupled with other public health determinants. For example; sedentary lifestyles, obesity, smoking, passive smoking, poor diet and noise.
In Central London and Brighton a mix of deprived and affluent people live adjacent to roads. People breath in pollution when in their homes and cars.
Wellbeing or Miasma
Local AQ Management Findings• At local roadside sites nitrogen dioxide is typically several times more concentrated than particles
• Nitrogen Dioxide compliance is priority for improvement at city and village roadsides where people live and levels do not comply with EU, UK and WHO standards for the protection of human health
• Also Monitoring PM2.5 North Street and Lewes Road compared to 2020 objective and WHO guideline
Brighton Central (16km2) Key AQMA Streets Above NO2 Legal Limit
Lewes Road A2073-A270
Eastern Road
North Street-Western Rd B2066
Edward StreetQueens Road-Terminus Rd A2010
Kingsway A259
Old Steine-St James Street B2118
Marlborough Place-London Road A23 northbound
Beaconsfield Rd-Viaduct Terrace -Grand Parade A23 southboundHollingdean Road
Pavilion Parade A23
New England Rd below railway A270
Severn Dials
The Drove under the railway
15
NO2 25 µg/m3PM2.5 11 µg/m3
PM2.5 13 µg/m3NO2 100 µg/m3
Normal Day compared to Road Closure
Nitrogen Dioxide Levels on North Street
North Street ‐Western Road Diffusion Tube
Queens Rd – Terminus Rd (A2010)
Queens Rd –7 Dials (A2010)
London Road Oxford Place (A23)
London Road Oxford Place (A23)
Trends North of Valley Gardens (A23)
Valley Gardens Grand Parade (A23)
Valley Gardens (A23)
New England Road
West of Preston Circus (A270)
Lewes Road (A270)
Nitrogen Dioxide Levels on North Street
A270 Lewes Road
Wellington Road‐Station Road (A259)
Portslade Trends
Rottingdean AQMA Streets Close to NO2 Legal Limit
c) Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Licence: 100020999, Brighton & Hove City Council. 2015. Cities Revealed(R) copyright by The GeoInformation(R) Group, 2013 and Crown Copyright (c) All rights reserved.
Rottingdean High Street B2123
Near Miss Vicarage Lane
Near Miss Marine Drive A259
Brighton & Hove City Council Air Quality Action Plan Technical Appendix 37
Rottingdean Trends
Summary of Monitoring
• Recent monitoring evidence shows some improvement in outdoor nitrogen dioxide concentrations across Central Brighton and the wider region. Further improvements in air quality especially at roadside are required if the city is to entirely comply with UK, EU and WHO limits for the protection of human health.
Construction Boom
PlanningAir Quality is a material consideration for the planning process as setout in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). This is mostapplicable where an AQMA has been declared. A development orprocess cannot legally cause an exceedance of the air quality directive.
Planning applications can be refused if they fail to take steps toimprove local air quality or are deemed to make the existing situationworse. The government has updated its method for calculating thecost of pollution.
Innovative approaches supported by developer contributions will needto be encouraged as works and construction activities are likely tocontribute to local pollution over the next decade. If air qualityimproves and the city is compliant with air quality laws this will be abetter environment for health and business.
AQMA and Developments
Taxi Licensing Committee• Cut engine, cut pollution signs at city taxi ranks• Seeking taxi policy shift towards low NOx options considering petrol and electric
• A Retrofit and testing programme
Exhaust Retrofits
Perceptions• Some common sense understanding that pollution is worse next to roads or in city centres
• Surprise on how much higher nitrogen dioxide levels are within 9 metres of roads surrounded by buildings or one city‐block back from the sea front
• Surprise re severity of the situation and its impacts on NHS overall health
• More awareness since the VW fiasco
Summary• Twenty years of monitoring evidence suggest good years
for pollution followed by bad• Recent improvement• Air quality to be considered in all planning, highway and
tourist decisions • Previously better awareness with regard to road safety and
carbon reduction • Almost £1.5 Million won from DfT for Vehicle Retrofits
Clean Air Zone being considered by Defra• Essential that more is done to improve oxide of nitrogen
emissions from vehicles• Management of Construction Traffic• Benefits of an active travel programme• For smaller vehicles petrol is an option as well as electric