Air Pollution
(asked on 14th July 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information her Department holds on how many times air quality safety levels were breached in (a) Port Talbot, (b) Stanford-le-Hope, (c) Glasgow, (d) London, (e) Scunthorpe, (f) Leeds, (g) Eastbourne, (h) Nottingham, (i) Southampton and (j) Oxford since 2011.
Defra uses both monitoring and modelling to assess air quality in the UK. Currently, 148 monitoring stations in the Automatic Urban Rural Network report near-real-time data on five key pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Information about these sites and modelled data is available on Defra’s UK-Air website.
For the purposes of EU compliance reporting, the UK is divided into 43 zones. The relevant zone for each area is shown in the table below. Details for compliance in each year since 2011 can be found at: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/annualreport/index. Compliance reports for last year will be published in October.
The Government’s ambition is for the UK to have the best natural environment anywhere. Clean air is an essential part of that ambition. In December last year, the Government published the national air quality plan for reducing nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations through a new programme of Clean Air Zones in five cities in England, including Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton, as well as Birmingham and Derby, along with the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in London. The plan combines targeted local and national measures and continued investment in clean technologies. These measures will also reduce PM concentrations.
All 10 areas exceeded the annual mean limit value for NO2 in a number of years since 2011, and some areas also exceeded the hourly limit value. The latest available data for the 10 areas is shown in the table below.
Location | Zone | Year NO2 hourly limit value exceeded | Year NO2 annual mean value exceeded |
Port Talbot | Swansea Urban Area |
| 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 (2011 – 2014, modelled roadside exceedances in Port Talbot) |
Port Talbot | South Wales | 2014,2015,2016 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
Stanford-le-Hope | Eastern | 2016 (Luton) | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
Glasgow | Glasgow Urban Area | 2011 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
London | Greater London Urban Area | 2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
Scunthorpe | Yorkshire & Humberside |
| 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 (2011 background exceedance in Scunthorpe) |
Leeds | West Yorkshire Urban Area |
| 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 (2011 – 2014, modelled roadside exceedances in Leeds) |
Eastbourne | South East | 2011,2012 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
Nottingham | Nottingham Urban Area |
| 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
Southampton | Southampton Urban Area |
| 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
Oxford | South East | 2011,2012 | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 (2011 – 2014, modelled roadside exceedances in Oxford) |
Latest compliance data shows that the UK is meeting the EU daily and annual mean limits for PM concentrations. There were exceedances of the daily mean limit value for PM10 in 2011 and 2012 in London.
There were exceedances in the annual mean limit value for Benzo [a] Pyrene (B[a]P) in all years between 2011 and 2014 in Port Talbot and 2011 to 2015 in Scunthorpe. There are action plans in place for B[a]P in all affected areas. Details can be found at: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/bap-nickel-measures.