2010 Air Quality Progress Report Epping Forest District Council In fulfillment of Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 Local Air Quality Management May 2010 Epping Forest District Council – Progress Report 2010 Local Authority Officer: Fay Rushby Department: Environment & Street Scene Address: Epping Forest District Council Civic Offices High Street Epping CM16 4BZ Telephone: 01992 564496 e-mail: [email protected] Report Ref: WK/201000535 Date: May 2010 As part of the: Essex Air Quality Consortium Monitoring Network. Page 2 of 46 Epping Forest District Council – Progress Report 2010 Executive Summary The purpose of this progress report is to provide an update on the review and assessment of air quality since the last updating and screening assessment or detailed assessment of air quality. The 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment identified that the following sites had the potential for exceeding the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective through modelling using the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges air quality model: 1. Beechfield Walk/Lodge Lane, Waltham Abbey 2. Albion Terrace, Sewardstone 3. Abbeyview Roundabout, Waltham Abbey Diffusion tubes have been installed at all three of the above locations since the 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment. An assessment of the initial results of the diffusion tube monitoring indicates that the air quality objective is being met, and there is no need to progress to a detailed assessment or declare an air quality management area (AQMA). The 2009 monitoring data does however indicate that the northern end of Epping High Street and Loughton High Road are consistently above the air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide and that a detailed assessment should be undertaken to determine the extent of any future AQMA. The 2009 monitoring data does confirm that and AQMA is not currently required for Goldings Hill, Loughton or Hainault Road, Chigwell as the receptors are set back from the road and the monitoring location. A new AQMA is in the process of being declared for nitrogen dioxide at Bell Vue, Bell Common, and essentially the Epping No.2 AQMA will replace the Epping No.1 AQMA which has been revoked because measured levels of nitrogen dioxide are below the objective level. An action plan will now be developed for Bell Common and the Epping Forest District area. No other new developments within the district require any specific investigation in relation to their impact on local air quality. Page 3 of 46 Epping Forest District Council – Progress Report 2010 Table of contents 1 Introduction 5 1.1 Description of Local Authority Area 5 1.2 Purpose of Progress Report 5 1.3 Air Quality Objectives 5 1.4 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments 6 2 New Monitoring Data 10 2.1 Summary of Monitoring Undertaken 10 2.2 Comparison of Monitoring Results with Air Quality Objectives 19 3 New Local Developments 25 3.1 Road Traffic Sources 25 3.2 Other Transport Sources 25 3.3 Industrial Sources 25 3.4 Commercial and Domestic Sources 25 3.5 New Developments with Fugitive or Uncontrolled Sources 25 4 Local / Regional Air Quality Strategy 26 5 Planning Applications 26 6 Air Quality Planning Policies 26 7 Local Transport Plans and Strategies 26 8 Climate Change Strategies 28 9 Implementation of Action Plans 28 10 Conclusions and Proposed Actions 28 10.1 Conclusions from New Monitoring Data 28 10.2 Conclusions relating to New Local Developments 29 10.3 Other Conclusions 28 10.4 Proposed Actions 29 References 30 Appendices Appendix A QA:QC Data. Appendix B Index to register of LAPPC activities and installations regulated by Epping Forest District Council. Tables Table 1.1 Air Quality Objectives included in Regulations for the purpose of Local Air Quality Management in England. Table 2.1 Details of non-automatic monitoring sites. Table 2.2 Results of nitrogen dioxide diffusion tubes. Figures Figure 1.1 Epping No.1 AQMA. Figure 1.2 Proposed Epping No.2 AQMA. Figure 2.1 Proposed location of automatic monitoring station. Figure 2.2 Maps of non-automatic monitoring sites. Page 4 of 46 Epping Forest District Council – Progress Report 2010 1 Introduction 1.1 Description of Local Authority Area Epping Forest District is an attractive, predominantly commuter area on the northeastern edge of London. The district has a population of around 121,000, of which nearly three quarters live in the suburban towns of Loughton, Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell, Epping and Waltham Abbey. The remaining quarter live in the surrounding rural areas including large villages such as Roydon, Nazeing, North Weald and Theydon Bois. The main source of air pollution in the borough is road traffic. There are two large motorways in the district; the M25 and the M11 however the air quality issues are located in the urban areas. 1.2 Purpose of Progress Report Progress Reports are required in the intervening years between the three-yearly Updating and Screening Assessment reports. Their purpose is to maintain continuity in the Local Air Quality Management process. They are not intended to be as detailed as Updating and Screening Assessment Reports, or to require as much effort. However, if the Progress Report identifies the risk of exceedence of an Air Quality Objective, the Local Authority (LA) should undertake a Detailed Assessment immediately, and not wait until the next round of Review and Assessment. 1.3 Air Quality Objectives The air quality objectives applicable to Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) in England are set out in the Air Quality (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 928), and the Air Quality (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 (SI 3043). They are shown in Table 1.1. This table shows the objectives in units of microgrammes per cubic metre mg/m3 (for carbon monoxide the units used are milligrammes per cubic metre, mg/m3). Table 1.1 includes the number of permitted exceedences in any given year (where applicable). Page 5 of 46 Epping Forest District Council – Progress Report 2010 Table 1.1 Air Quality Objectives included in Regulations for the purpose of Local Air Quality Management in England. Date to be Pollutant Concentration Measured as achieved by 3 Benzene 16.25 µg/m 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 0.5 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2004 Lead 0.25 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2008 200 µg/m3 not to be 1-hour mean 31.12.2005 exceeded more than 18 times Nitrogen dioxide a year 40 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2005 50 µg/m3, not to be exceeded 24-hour mean 31.12.2004 Particles (PM ) (gravimetric) 10 more than 35 times a year 40 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2004 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 Sulphur dioxide exceeded more than 3 times a year 266 µg/m3, not to be 15-minute mean 31.12.2005 exceeded more than 35 times a year 1.4 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments Between 1998 and 2000, Epping Forest District Council undertook its first round review and assessment of air quality. The first round assessments (Stages 1, 2 and 3) concluded that it was not necessary to declare any AQMAs for any pollutant. The first phase of the second round of review and assessment, the USA, was completed in September 2003 and this provided an update with respect to air quality issues within Epping Forest District Council. The USA concluded that a detailed assessment was required for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) due to road traffic emissions from the M25 (West of the M11), High Street (Epping), Hainault Road (Chigwell), Church Hill (Loughton) and A121 Link Road (Waltham Abbey). The Detailed Assessment 2004 concluded that the NO2 objectives would be met and that the declaration of an AQMA was not warranted. The Annual Progress Report (APR) for 2005 considered monitoring data for 2004, and the conclusions of the APR were that there were no exceedences which warranted a detailed assessment. Page 6 of 46 Epping Forest District Council – Progress Report 2010 The 2006 USA reconsidered the seven health based AQS objectives and concluded that there was a possible risk of exceedence of the NO2 objective. It was noted that the Council should relocate the diffusion tubes closer to the receptor facades at those sites nearing exceedence and undertake dispersion modelling to identify the extent of any potential AQMA. Dispersion modelling undertaken as part of a detailed assessment of air quality identified a likely exceedence at Epping High Street and it was necessary to declare an AQMA at Epping High Street in January 2008 (Figure 1). Figure 1.1 Epping No.1 AQMA Page 7 of 46 Epping Forest District Council – Progress Report 2010 A further assessment of air quality in the Epping No.1 AQMA using triplicate co-located diffusion tube monitoring in 2008 and the majority of 2009 confirmed that actual annual average concentrations of NO2 were below the objective level and the AQMA could be dispensed with. The 2009 Updating and Screening Assessment again indicated exceedences of the NO2 annual mean objective at six sites in the district using 2008 monitoring data, these being: 1. Bell Vue 2. Goldings Hill 3. Hainault Road 4. Waltham Cross 5. Ladbrokes Epping High Street 6. 252 High Street, Loughton Bell Vue & Goldings Hill were subject to Detailed Assessments in 2009 and resulted in the decision to progress the declaration of an AQMA for Bell Vue (see figure 1.2).