2012 Air Quality Updating and Screening Assessment for: Epping Forest District Council In fulfillment of Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 Local Air Quality Management Date (August, 2012) Epping Forest District Council Local Authority Fay Rushby Officer Department Public Health Environment & Street Scene Address Epping Forest District Council Civic Offices High Street Epping Essex CM16 4BZ Telephone 01992 564496 e-mail [email protected] Report WK/201214649 Reference number Date August 2012 LAQM USA 2012 1 Epping Forest District Council Executive Summary Epping Forest District is an attractive, predominantly commuter area on the north eastern 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. There are two large motorways in the district; the M25 and the M11 and the main source of air pollution in the district is road traffic. The air quality in the district is reasonably good with increased concentrations of vehicle emissions related polutants limited to congested high street areas and busy junctions. The District Council has completed all rounds of the review and assessment to date, which led to a number of detailed assessments for nitrogen dioxide. AQMA’s were declared for Epping High Street in 2010, and Bell Vue, Bell Common in 2011. The Epping High Street AQMA was declared on the basis of modelling information, but was revoked in 2011 on the completion of diffusion tube monitoring, which confirmed that nitrogen dioxide were below the air quality objective. All other reports judged that no AQMA was necesarry. Only one air quality management area remains, that being for Bell Vue, Bell common. An action plan is in the process of being agreed but has yet to be accepted by defra. Revisions to the source apportionment calculation are required. This updating and screening assessment builds on previous air quality work, and reports on 2011 monitoring data. The Updating and Screening Assessment has identified that there is no need to amend the boundaries of the current AQMA, and there is no need to declare any new AQMA. No local developments have the potential to impact on air quality other than the commencement of the Epping Ongar Heritage Railway. The Updating and Screening Assessment has identified the need for additional monitoring in relation to the Epping Ongar Railway. The impact (if any) of the operation of the railway is being reviewed and LAQM USA 2012 2 Epping Forest District Council will be reported in the 2013 Progress Report along with the need to progress to a Detailed assessment if necessary. The Updating and Screening Assessment has not identified the need to progress to a detailed assessment at this time. The proposed actions following this Updating and Screening Assessment are to: Ø Revise the source apportionment assessment for the action plan for the current AQMA. Ø Continue with the existing nitrogen dioxide monitoring survey. Ø Monitor at the Epping Ongar Railway for nitrogen dioxide and time spent idling at stations to see if a detailed assessment is required. Ø Submit a progress report in 2013. LAQM USA 2012 3 Epping Forest District Council Table of contents 1 Introduction......................................................................................................6 1.1 Description of Local Authority Area................................................................................6 1.2 Purpose of Report.........................................................................................................6 1.3 Air Quality Objectives....................................................................................................7 1.4 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments............................................................8 2 New Monitoring Data......................................................................................10 2.1 Summary of Monitoring Undertaken.............................................................................10 2.1.1 Automatic Monitoring Sites..........................................................................................10 2.1.2 Non-Automatic Monitoring Sites...................................................................................10 2.2 Comparison of Monitoring Results with AQ Objectives.................................................14 2.2.1 Nitrogen Dioxide..........................................................................................................14 2.2.2 PM10............................................................................................................................21 2.2.3 Sulphur Dioxide...........................................................................................................21 2.2.4 Benzene......................................................................................................................21 2.2.5 Other pollutants monitored...........................................................................................21 2.2.6 Summary of Compliance with AQS Objectives.............................................................21 3 Road Traffic Sources.....................................................................................22 3.1 Narrow Congested Streets with Residential Properties Close to the Kerb.....................22 3.2 Busy Streets Where People May Spend 1-hour or More Close to Traffic......................22 3.3 Roads with a High Flow of Buses and/or HGVs............................................................22 3.4 Junctions.....................................................................................................................23 3.5 New Roads Constructed or Proposed Since the Last Round of Review and Assessment23 3.6 Roads with Significantly Changed Traffic Flows...........................................................23 3.7 Bus and Coach Stations..............................................................................................23 4 Other Transport Sources...............................................................................24 4.1 Airports.......................................................................................................................24 4.2 Railways (Diesel and Steam Trains)............................................................................24 4.2.1 Stationary Trains.........................................................................................................24 4.2.2 Moving Trains..............................................................................................................25 4.3 Ports (Shipping)...........................................................................................................25 5 Industrial Sources..........................................................................................26 5.1 Industrial Installations..................................................................................................26 5.1.1 New or Proposed Installations for which an Air Quality Assessment has been Carried Out 26 5.1.2 Existing Installations where Emissions have Increased Substantially or New Relevant Exposure has been Introduced...................................................................................................26 5.1.3 New or Significantly Changed Installations with No Previous Air Quality Assessment...26 5.2 Major Fuel (Petrol) Storage Depots..............................................................................27 5.3 Petrol Stations.............................................................................................................27 LAQM USA 2012 4 Epping Forest District Council 5.4 Poultry Farms..............................................................................................................27 6 Commercial and Domestic Sources.............................................................28 6.1 Biomass Combustion – Individual Installations.............................................................28 6.2 Biomass Combustion – Combined Impacts..................................................................28 6.3 Domestic Solid-Fuel Burning.......................................................................................28 7 Fugitive or Uncontrolled Sources.................................................................29 8 Conclusions and Proposed Actions.............................................................30 8.1 Conclusions from New Monitoring Data.......................................................................30 8.2 Conclusions from Assessment of Sources...................................................................30 8.3 Proposed Actions........................................................................................................30 9 References......................................................................................................32 List of Tables Table 1.1 Air Quality Objectives included in Regulations for the purpose of LAQM in England Table 2.2 Details of Non-Automatic Monitoring Sites Table 2.5 Results of Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tubes in 2011 Table 2.6 Results of Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tubes (2007 to 2011) List of Figures Figure 1.1: Map of AQMA Boundary Figure 2.2: Map of Non-Automatic Monitoring Sites Figure 2.4: Trends in Annual