Policy instruments (3) - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 232

that year (Defra 2003a/b) and an updated version has recently been published for
consultation (Defra 2008a). The Review and Assessment process is conducted in
three-yearly cycles, the immediate one being 2009-11. In the first year all authorities
are required to undertake an Updating and Screening Assessment whose purpose is to
identify locations where there is a risk of an air quality objective being exceeded. (These
'locations' are places outside buildings or other structures where members of the public
are regularly present.). During the second year, a Detailed Assessment is undertaken
at the vulnerable locations to establish whether a new Air Quality Management Area
(AQMA) is needed or an existing Area amended.
AQMAs have to be designated by an official order following consultation
involving, amongst others, the county council as highways authority in two-tier areas.
Authorities then have to follow this with a remedial Action Plan (again subject to
consultation) and subsequent Progress Reports. (The prescribed content of such Plans
is shown in Box 14.2.) These documents have to be submitted to Defra or the Mayor
of London who may challenge their findings and, in the extreme, initiate remedial
action themselves.
Road traffic accounts for over half the total emissions of nitrogen oxides and particles
(PM10) and around 95% of the AQMAs designated thus far are primarily transport
related. The Government therefore strongly recommends that, where transport is the
primary factor, Air Quality Action Plans should be integrated with the Local Transport
Plan (LTP) for their area (LIP within London). Indeed for a brief period the Government
proposed to remove the need for authorities to prepare separate air quality reports
(Defra 2005) with them being incorporated in the relevant LTP and associated Annual
Progress Reports instead. (Air quality was one of the 'shared objectives' adopted for
LTP2s - see 20.6.) However these reporting arrangements have since been abandoned
and air quality is now recognised as a suitable subject on which neighbouring authorities
may work together within the framework of new Local Area Agreements (19.8). In this
Box 14.2 The Content of Air Quality Action Plans
• Quantiication of the source contributions to the predicted exceedences of the
Objectives
• Evidence that all available options have been considered on the grounds of cost-
effectiveness and feasibility
• How the local authority will use its powers and work in conjunction with other
organisations in pursuit of the objectives*
• Clear timescales for proposed implementation of measures in the Plan
• Where possible, quantiication of the expected impacts of the proposed measures
and an indication of whether the measures will be sufficient to meet the objectives
• How the local authority intends to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the
Plan.
Source: Defra 2008a para 4.2
*If the Action Plan includes conditions which will influence a Development Plan
(e.g. require or preclude certain projects at certain locations) then a Strategic
Environmental Assessment is required (21.8)