Air Quality Action Plan for the Cambridgeshire Growth Areas: Cambridge City Council Huntingdonshire District Council South Cambridgeshire District Council 2009 Contact Details: Cambridge City Council: Jo Dicks and Anita Lewis. Environmental Services PO Box 700 Cambridge CB1 0JH Tel: 01223 457890 or 457926 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Huntingdonshire District Council: Toby Lewis. Environmental Services Pathfinder House St Mary’s Street Huntingdon PE29 3TN Tel: 01480 388365 Email: [email protected] South Cambridgeshire District Council: Susan Walford and Adam Finch. Health & Environmental Services South Cambridgeshire Hall Cambourne Business Park Cambourne CB23 6EA Tel: 01954 713124 or 713319 Email: [email protected] [email protected] Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4 1.1 Legislative background................................................................................... 4 1.2 Joint approach................................................................................................ 5 1.3 Description of area covered by the Joint Air Quality Action Plan.................... 6 Figure 1.1 Location of the Local Authorities ........................................................ 7 Figure 1.2 Air Quality Management Areas in the south of Cambridgeshire......... 8 1.4 Air quality activity timeline .............................................................................. 9 Table 1.1 - Air Quality Activity Timeline................................................................ 9 1.5 The Growth Agenda ..................................................................................... 10 Figure 1.3 Major new developments envisaged in the RSS/Structure Plan ....... 12 1.6 Links with Local Transport Plan ................................................................... 12 1.7 Air quality and climate change ..................................................................... 13 1.8 Air Quality Action Plan and Inequalities........................................................ 14 2. Air Quality Actions to December 2008, district by district ................................ 15 2.1 Cambridge City Council................................................................................ 15 2.1.1 Cambridge draft AQAP - integration into the Local Transport Plan........... 16 Table 2.1 AQAP measures in the LTP .............................................................. 16 2.1.2 LTP Action Plan targets ............................................................................ 18 Figure 2.1 LTP indicators .................................................................................. 18 Table 2.3. LTP targets and indicators ............................................................... 19 2.1.3 Cambridge City Council strategies, plans and policies ............................. 21 2.2 Huntingdonshire District Council .................................................................. 22 2.2.1 Introduction............................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 The Environment Strategy ........................................................................ 23 2.2.3 Planning Policy ......................................................................................... 24 2.2.4 The re-routing of the A14 trunk road......................................................... 25 2.3 South Cambridgeshire District Council......................................................... 26 2.3.1 South Cambridgeshire District Council Planning Policy............................ 27 3. Source apportionment and degree of improvement .......................................... 29 3.1 Cambridge City Council................................................................................ 30 3.2 Huntingdonshire District Council .................................................................. 34 3.3 South Cambridgeshire District Council......................................................... 39 3.4 Summary table - indicative degree of improvement ..................................... 45 4. Consideration of Options ..................................................................................... 46 4.1 Cambridge City Council................................................................................ 47 4.2 Huntingdonshire District Council .................................................................. 57 4.3 South Cambridgeshire District Council......................................................... 59 5. Consultation .......................................................................................................... 62 5.1.1 Residents consultation.............................................................................. 63 5.1.2 Stakeholders consultation......................................................................... 64 5.1.3 Stakeholder and residents discussion ...................................................... 67 5.1.4 Workshop outcomes ................................................................................. 70 6. Quantification ........................................................................................................ 77 Table 6.1 Impact thresholds.............................................................................. 77 6.1 Cambridge City Council................................................................................ 77 Comparison of quantified action results with required improvements. .............. 80 6.2 Huntingdonshire District Council .................................................................. 81 6.3 South Cambridgeshire District Council......................................................... 82 7. Implications of Growth on Air Quality................................................................. 84 Table 7.1 Changes in the numbers of dwellings in Cambridgeshire................... 84 Figure 7.1 Cambridge Sub-region schematic map............................................ 85 7.1 Existing growth areas................................................................................... 86 Table 7.3 Existing growth areas......................................................................... 86 7.2 Growth beyond 2021 .................................................................................... 87 7.3 Assessment of growth on air quality to 2016................................................ 90 Figure 7.2 Modelling areas and proposed developments.................................. 92 Figure 7.3 Predicted annual mean NO2 for 2006, the baseline year ................. 93 Figure 7.4 Predicted annual mean NO2 for 2016 .............................................. 93 Figure 7.4 Predicted annual mean NO2 for 2016 .............................................. 94 Figure 7.5 Predicted 24-hour averages PM10 for 2006, the baseline year......... 94 Figure 7.5 Predicted 24-hour averages PM10 for 2006, the baseline year......... 95 8. Monitoring and Evaluation ................................................................................... 97 9. References........................................................................................................... 103 10. Acronym Glossary ................................................................................... 106 11. Appendices............................................................................................... 109 Appendix 1 Maps of Air Quality Management Areas Appendix 2 Spreadsheet of all measures planned/in progress Appendix 3 Progress based on continuous monitoring results: 5-year rolling means Appendix 4 Progress based on NO2 diffusion tube results: 5-year rolling means Appendix 5 Growth Areas Executive Summary This Joint Air Quality Action Plan produced through partnership between Officers from Cambridge City, Huntingdonshire, South Cambridgeshire District Councils and Cambridgeshire County Council formalises the next step in Local Air Quality Management. The document clearly sets out the nature of air quality problems across the south of the county, assesses the causes and solutions in some detail and sets out clear priority areas for action over the next five years. Cambridgeshire authorities have worked together on air quality since 1997 and this document represents the culmination of Air Quality Review and Assessment work over the last twelve years. Whilst resources and local circumstances have led to differing timescales for the authorities involved in the production of this Action Plan, all partners have now established a legal and compelling case for local action on air quality. The three Districts and County Council in this partnership are linked by transport issues, which are the primary source of pollutants of concern across the sub-region. There are two main themes causing excessive transport related pollution in our area. These are firstly the importance of Cambridge as an employment, education and tourist centre, and secondly the prevalence of long-distance freight on the A14 east- west corridor. These factors lead to high numbers of longer than average commutes to and from Cambridge and a very high proportion of heavy goods vehicles on the trunk roads. The resulting congestion on trunk routes and the centres of Cambridge and the surrounding market towns