Air Quality Consultation - Part 1

Overview

The current Air Quality Strategy and Action Plan for South Ribble were published in 2018 and are now due for an update.  

The strategy will set the Councils strategic goals in relation to air quality, provide information on the works that have been completed and the current impact, while the action plan will detail the actions the Council and its partners will take forward to maintain and improve air quality.

As part of this update we are also looking to align the Air Quality documents with the Councils published Biodiversity and Climate Emergency Strategies and Action Plans, given the close links between them.  This includes our tree planting targets and green walls and roofs.  All these documents can be found on the Climate Emergency pages of our website.

Examples of some of the successful projects to take place in the Borough in the last 5 years are –

• Penwortham Bypass has reduced traffic flow along Liverpool Road, meaning we were able to remove the Air Quality Management Area as air pollution levels have reduced significantly.
• Liverpool Road Cycle Lane – encouraging local journeys to be taken by bicycle
• Defra funding for a primary school air quality project – The Clean Air Crew launching September 2023
• Updated air quality section of the South Ribble website
• Installation of EV charging points on many of our car parks
• Bikeability training for schools and Dr Bike repair workshops
• Wheel Walk Penwortham – an active travel pilot scheme currently taking place in Penwortham
• All internal Council reports now include an air quality impact section
• Ready to Burn campaign to ensure retailers are only selling seasoned timber for domestic burning
• Nitrogen Oxides monitoring across the Borough continues

Local Authorities must consider air quality, undertake monitoring and report the results to Defra (The Department for Food and Rural Affairs).  Air quality levels are set by government.  Areas that are found to exceed these national levels have to be declared as Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA).  In South Ribble we have AQMAs at

• Victoria Road (A6), Walton le Dale
• Junction of Leyland Road and Brownedge Road, Lostock Hall
• Station Road, Bamber Bridge
• Turpin Green Lane, Churchill Way and Golden Hill Lane, Leyland

In July 2023, after several years of monitoring results below the national limits, Defra have agreed with our recommendation to remove the AQMA for the junction of Liverpool Road, Priory Lane, Penwortham.   Monitoring will continue in this area to ensure that levels stay low. 

More details on these area and our annual reports to Defra can be found on the air quality pages of our website.  

However, air quality still has a considerable impact to the health of residents, with  4.7% of deaths within South Ribble being attributed to particulate air pollution (this compares with 4.8% for Lancashire and 5.5% for England). The full data can be viewed at Public Health Profiles

Why your views matter

For the first stage of the Consultation, which will run until 15 December 2023, we are asking for your opinions as to what we should include within the action plan.

A further consultation will then be undertaken in early 2024 to enable residents to have an input into the draft Strategy and Action Plan before the documents are finalised and presented to the elected members for consideration and adoption.  

What happens next

The responses to this part of the consultation will be integrated into the updated Strategy and Action Plan

A further consultation will then be undertaken in early 2024 to enable residents to have an input into these draft Strategy and Action Plan documents before the documents are finalised and presented to the elected members for consideration and adoption