Mendip District Council - England MENDIP '--......,. .._ ... -.......- D ISTR ICT ,CQU N C I L 2009 Air Quality Updating and Screening Assessment for Mendip District Council In fulfillment of Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 Local Air Quality Management April 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment April 2009 Mendip District Council - England Local Rupert Williamson Authority Environmental Protection Officer Officer Department Neighbourhood Services Address Cannards Grave Road Shepton Mallet Somerset BA4 5AA Telephone 01749 341466 e-mail [email protected] Report Reference number Date ii Updating and Screening Assessment April 2009 Mendip District Council - England Executive Summary Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 places responsibility on local authorities to review and assess the air quality in their area in comparison to National Air Quality Objectives. The review and assessment of air quality takes the form of an Updating and Screening Assessment (USA) every three years, which is intended to identify significant changes that may have occurred since the previous rounds of Review and Assessment. This includes new monitoring data; new or changed emission sources and any local changes that may affect air quality. Progress Reports are produced in the interim years between USAs to keep stakeholders informed of changes and allow the local authority to take early steps to protect air quality if there are doubts about achieving any objective. If either the USA or Progress Report raises doubts as to whether an air quality objective will be achieved, then a Detailed Assessment is conducted to evaluate the risk that the objective will not be achieved. If the Detailed Assessment concludes that a risk exists, then consideration must be given to declaring an Air Quality Management Area and an Air Quality Action Plan should be introduced. The Air Quality Action Plan will include appropriate measures required to meet the objective. This report details changes that have occurred within the district of Mendip which may have an impact upon local air quality since the Progress Report in April 2008. Monitoring data for nitrogen dioxide measured by permanent diffusion tube gauges is presented from twelve kerbside sites across Mendip. These data indicate that the objective value for nitrogen dioxide is being achieved at all monitored locations within Mendip. Another three locations have been added to this network and results will be presented in the next report. Whilst monitoring data has shown that there are currently no breaches of statutory limits, modelling and assessment has highlighted three areas where there are potential concerns over air quality and it will be necessary to proceed to a Detailed Assessment at these locations to decide whether Air Quality Management Areas will be required. Mendip District Council’s next air quality report will be a Progress Report in April 2010 along with Detailed Assessments of The Butts in Frome; Frome Market Place; and the Charterhouse biomass boiler located near to the village of Blagdon within North Somerset. April 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment iii Mendip District Council - England Table of contents 1 Introduction 4 1.1 Description of Local Authority Area 4 1.2 Purpose of Report 4 1.3 Air Quality Objectives 5 1.4 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments 5 2 New Monitoring Data 7 2.1 Summary of Monitoring Undertaken 7 2.2 Comparison of Monitoring Results with AQ Objectives 9 3 Road Traffic Sources 13 3.1 Narrow Congested Streets with Residential Properties Close to the Kerb 13 3.2 Busy Streets Where People May Spend 1-hour or More Close to Traffic 14 3.3 Roads with a High Flow of Buses and/or HGVs. 14 3.4 Junctions 14 3.5 New Roads Constructed or Proposed Since the Last Round of Review and Assessment 15 3.6 Roads with Significantly Changed Traffic Flows 15 3.7 Bus and Coach Stations 17 4 Other Transport Sources 18 4.1 Airports 18 4.2 Railways (Diesel and Steam Trains) 18 4.3 Ports (Shipping) 19 5 Industrial Sources 20 5.1 Industrial Installations 20 5.2 Major Fuel (Petrol) Storage Depots 21 5.3 Petrol Stations 21 5.4 Poultry Farms 22 6 Commercial and Domestic Sources 24 6.1 Biomass Combustion – Individual Installations 24 6.2 Biomass Combustion – Combined Impacts 25 6.3 Domestic Solid-Fuel Burning 25 7 Fugitive or Uncontrolled Sources 26 8 Conclusions and Proposed Actions 27 8.1 Conclusions from New Monitoring Data 27 8.2 Conclusions from Assessment of Sources 27 8.3 Proposed Actions 28 9 Appendices 1 April 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment Mendip District Council - England 9.1 Appendix A: QA:QC Data 2 9.2 Appendix B: DMRB Calculations 3 9.3 Appendix C: Monthly Mean NO2 Data 10 9.4 Appendix D: Estimated PM10 from biomass combustion (combined impacts) 10 9.5 Appendix E: Comparison of NO2 Monitoring results from longer-term sites 14 9.6 Appendix F: Permitted Activities in Mendip 16 April 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment 3 Mendip District Council - England 1 Introduction 1.1 Description of Local Authority Area Mendip District, shown in Figure 1-1, is a predominantly rural authority covering over 740 square kilometres of northeast Somerset. BRISTOL • SOMERSET Figure 1-1- The District of Mendip The population of Mendip is 109,100 (estimate for mid 2007), with the majority (approximately 60%) residing in the city of Wells, the towns of Frome, Glastonbury, and Shepton Mallet, and the village of Street, with the remaining in rural communities. Frome is the fourth largest town in Somerset. The principle roads within the District are the A39, A37, A361 and A371, which are the responsibility of Somerset County Council with the exception of a short stretch of the A361, which is the responsibility of the Highways Agency. Rail links are confined to a small length of the main line to London in the east of the District. Given the lack of public transport and the rural nature of the district, most homes have multiple cars. Agriculture underpins the district economy, but the quarrying industry and associated cement works dominate commercial activity. The majority of quarries are located in the eastern fringe of the Mendip Hills. The east Mendip Hills area is one of the primary producers of limestone aggregate within the United Kingdom. The principal towns also provide a wide variety of industries, including a foundry, printing works, and food and drink manufacturing. Of the 6 district and borough councils which make up the administrative county of Somerset, AQMAs have only been declared for nitrogen dioxide by South Somerset and Taunton Deane. Sedgemoor District used to have an AQMA due to sulphur dioxide due to a cellophane installation which has now closed. 1.2 Purpose of Report This report fulfils the requirements of the Local Air Quality Management process as set out in Part IV of the Environment Act (1995), the Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 2007 and the relevant Policy and Technical Guidance documents. The LAQM process places an obligation on all local authorities to regularly review and assess air quality in their areas, and to determine whether or not the air quality objectives are likely to be achieved. Where exceedances are considered likely, the local authority must then declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) and prepare an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) setting out the measures it intends to put in place in pursuit of the objectives. April 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment Mendip District Council - England 1.3 Air Quality Objectives The air quality objectives applicable to LAQM in England are set out in the Air Quality (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 928), The Air Quality (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 (SI 3043), and are shown in Table 1.1. This table shows the objectives in units of microgrammes per cubic metre μg/m3 (milligrammes per cubic metre, mg/m3 for carbon monoxide) with the number of exceedances in each year that are permitted (where applicable). Table 1-1 - Air Quality Objectives included in Regulations for the purpose of Local Air Quality Management in England. Pollutant Air Quality Objective Date to be Concentration Measured as achieved by Benzene 16.25 µg/m3 Running annual mean 31.12.2003 5.00 µg/m3 Running annual mean 31.12.2010 1,3-Butadiene 2.25 µg/m3 Running annual mean 31.12.2003 Carbon monoxide 10.0 mg/m3 Running 8-hour mean 31.12.2003 Lead 0.5 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2004 0.25 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2008 Nitrogen dioxide 200 µg/m3 not to be 1-hour mean 31.12.2005 exceeded more than 18 times a year 40 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2005 3 Particles (PM10) 50 µg/m , not to be 24-hour mean 31.12.2004 (gravimetric) exceeded more than 35 times a year Annual mean 31.12.2004 40 µg/m3 Sulphur dioxide 350 µg/m3, not to be 1-hour mean 31.12.2004 exceeded more than 24 times a year 125 µg/m3, not to be 24-hour mean 31.12.2004 exceeded more than 3 times a year 266 µg/m3, not to be exceeded more than 35 15-minute mean 31.12.2005 times a year 1.4 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments Mendip District Council completed the first round of review and assessment between 1998 and 2000. The outcome was published in a Stage 3 report completed in January 2002 and concluded that it was not necessary to designate an AQMA in the Mendip area. The second round of review and assessment commenced in February 2003 and was carried out in accordance with guidance LAQM:TG(03).