2013 Air Quality Progress Report for: Epping Forest District Council In fulfillment of Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 Local Air Quality Management Date (June, 2013) 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 June 2013 LAQM Progress Report 2013 Epping Forest District Council Executive Summary Epping Forest District is an attractive, predominantly commuter area on the north eastern edge of London. The air quality in the district is reasonably good. There are two large motorways in the district; the M25 and the M11 however the main source of air pollution in the district is local road traffic 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. Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) were declared for Epping High Street in 2010, and Bell Vue, Bell Common in 2011. The Epping High Street AQMA was declared solely on the basis of modelling information, but was revoked in 2011 on the completion of diffusion tube monitoring, which confirmed that nitrogen dioxide were below the air quality objective.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 it was not necesarry to declare any further AQMA. This Progress Report builds on previous air quality work, and reports on 2012 monitoring data. The monitoring data and previous air quality work indicates that there is no need to amend the boundaries of the current AQMA, and there is no need to declare any new AQMA. The AQMA (Bell Vue, Bell common) has an an action plan in place. An update on progress with the action plan is included with this report. 2012 monitoring data indicates an improvement in air quality, such that the hourly average is unlikely to be exceeded, however the annaul average remains above the air quality objective. The Epping Ongar Heritage Railway has also been provisionally assessed using part-year monitoring data. 15 diffusion tubes were located at relevant receptors along the railway line to asses for nitrogen dioxide emissions. Time spent stationary at stations was assessed, and a literature review was undertaken in relation to sulphur dioxide emissions from steam railways because of the prohibitive cost of monitoring. LAQM Progress Report 2013 1 Epping Forest District Council The results of the monitoring to date indicates that nitrogen dioxide concentrations are at background levels, and some of lowest levels reported in the district. The literature review indicates that the scale of railway operations are unlikely to result in the Air Quality Objective being exceeded for sulphur dioxide. Time spent stationary at stations is generally under 15 minutes. This Progress Report has not identified the need to progress to a full detailed assessment, however nitrogen dioxide monitoring will continue until the end of 2013, and train waiting times will continue to be assessed. The proposed actions following this Progress Report are to: Ø Further the Air Quality action plan for the current AQMA as far as practicable. Ø Continue with the existing nitrogen dioxide monitoring survey. Ø Continue to monitor at the Epping Ongar Railway for nitrogen dioxide and time spent idling at stations. Ø Consider SO2 monitoring if resources become available to undertake monitoring of a suitable quality for inclusion in the air quality reporting process. Ø Submit a progress report in 2014. LAQM Progress Report 2013 2 Epping Forest District Council 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 6 1.4 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments 7 2 New Monitoring Data 9 2.1 Summary of Monitoring Undertaken 9 2.2 Comparison of Monitoring Results with Air Quality Objectives 16 3 New Local Developments 28 3.1 Road Traffic Sources 28 3.2 Other Transport Sources 28 3.3 Industrial Sources 32 3.4 Commercial and Domestic Sources 33 3.5 New Developments with Fugitive or Uncontrolled Sources 33 4 Local / Regional Air Quality Strategy 34 5 Planning Applications 35 6 Air Quality Planning Policies 36 7 Local Transport Plans and Strategies 37 8 Climate Change Strategies 38 9 Implementation of Action Plans 39 10 Conclusions and Proposed Actions 42 10.1 Conclusions from New Monitoring Data 42 10.2 Conclusions relating to New Local Developments 42 10.3 Other Conclusions 43 10.4 Proposed Actions 43 11 References 44 LAQM Progress Report 2013 3 Epping Forest District Council List of Tables Table 1.1 Air Quality Objectives Included in Regulations for the Purpose of LAQM in England. Table 2.2 Non-Automatic Monitoring Sites Table 2.5 Results of Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tubes in 2012. Table 2.6 Short to Long Term Data Adjustment Table 2.7 Distance Adjustment for Relevant Exposure. Table 2.8 Results of NO2 Diffusion Tubes 2009 - 2012 List of Figures Figure 1.1 Map of AQMA boundary Figure 2.2a Overview Map of Non-Automatic Monitoring Sites Figure 2.2b Overview Map of Epping/Epping Ongar RailwayNon-Automatic Monitoring Sites Figure 2.2c Overview Map of Waltham Abbey/Loughton Non-Automatic Monitoring Sites Figure 2.4 Trends in Annual Mean Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations Measured at Diffusion Tube Monitoring Sites Appendices Appendix A: Diffusion Tube Data A1 QA/QC of diffusion tube monitoring A2 Diffusion Tube Bias Adjustment Factors A3 Diffusion tube precision and accuracy A4 Short-term to Long-term Data adjustment A5 NO2 distance from roads LAQM Progress Report 2013 4 Epping Forest District Council 1 Introduction 1.1 Description of Local Authority Area 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. 1.2 Purpose of Progress 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 exceedences 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. 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 they are still a time consuming undertaking. LAQM Progress Report 2013 5 Epping Forest District Council 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 exceedences in each year that are permitted (where applicable). Table 1.1 Air Quality Objectives included in Regulations for the purpose of LAQM in England Air Quality Objective Pollutant Concentration Measured as Date to be achieved by 16.25 µg/m3 Running annual mean 31.12.2003 Benzene 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 exceeded more than 18 1-hour mean 31.12.2005 Nitrogen dioxide times a year 40 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2005 50 µg/m3, not to be exceeded more than 35 24-hour mean 31.12.2004 Particles (PM10) (gravimetric) times a year 40 µg/m3 Annual mean 31.12.2004 350 µg/m3, not to be exceeded more than 24 1-hour mean 31.12.2004 times a year 125 µg/m3, not to be Sulphur dioxide exceeded more than 3 24-hour mean 31.12.2004 times a year 266 µg/m3, not to be exceeded more than 35 15-minute mean 31.12.2005 times a year LAQM Progress Report 2013 6 Epping Forest District Council 1.4 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments The District Council has completed all rounds of the review and assessment to date, including the most recent 2012 Updating and Screening Assessment (USA).