2015 Updating and Screening Assessment for Gateshead Council In fulfillment of Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 Local Air Quality Management Date: June 2015 Gateshead Council __________________________________________________ Local Authority Paul Christer Officer Department Development and Public Protection Gateshead Council, Civic Centre, Regent Address Street, Gateshead, NE8 1HH Telephone 0191 433 3922 e-mail [email protected] Report Reference Gateshead USA 2015 number Date June 2015 __________________________________________________________ LAQM USA 2015 2 Gateshead Council __________________________________________________ Executive Summary Gateshead Council’s Updating and Screening Assessment 2015 has found that there are no new developments or changes in existing pollutant sources which may have a significant impact on pollutant concentrations in Gateshead. All of the air quality objectives in the Governments National Air Quality Strategy 2007 are met for all of the relevant pollutants, namely benzene, 1-3 Butadiene, Carbon Monoxide, Lead, Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and importantly PM10 (Particulate Matter less than 10 Microns) and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) including within the town centre Air Quality Management Area (AQMA). NO2 concentrations in 2014 measured by real time automatic monitoring equipment and manual diffusion tube monitoring remain below the Air Quality Objective annual mean concentration of 40μg/m3 and hourly average of 200μg/m3 with the national bias figure applied. Application of the locally determined bias figure also brings all monitoring sites below the AQO levels. Concentrations of NO2 have again fallen this year at the Melbourne Court monitoring location which typically presents the worst case scenario for poor air quality in Gateshead indicating a continuing downward trend. It would though be unwise to suggest the revocation of the Town Centre AQMA at this point as there is still the potential for concentrations to fluctuate year on year. It would be necessary to demonstrate consistent compliance with the AQO over a number of years before any thought could be given to revocation. The installation of the infrastructure (pipework & cabling) supporting the Town Centre Energy Centre may require some restriction upon traffic flows in the short term around the town centre and this may again affect annual NO2 concentrations The Updating and Screening Assessment 2015 has not identified a need to proceed to a detailed Assessment for any pollutant, or any need for additional monitoring, or changes to the existing monitoring programme. Monitoring of both Nitrogen Dioxide and PM2.5 will continue at the automatic sites. There are no proposals to consider revocation of the AQMA as yet as NO2 levels are prone to fluctuation year on year. __________________________________________________________ LAQM USA 2015 3 Gateshead Council __________________________________________________ Table of contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Air Quality & Health ........................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Description of Local Authority Area ................................................................................... 7 1.3 Purpose of Report .............................................................................................................. 9 1.4 Air Quality Objectives ........................................................................................................ 9 1.5 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments ............................................................ 11 Table 2 Summary of Previous Review and Assessments .......................................................... 11 2 New Monitoring Data ..................................................................................... 16 2.1 Summary of Monitoring Undertaken ................................................................................ 16 2.1.1 Automatic Monitoring Sites .............................................................................................. 16 2.1.2 Non-Automatic Monitoring Sites ...................................................................................... 20 2.2 Comparison of Monitoring Results with Air Quality Objectives ....................................... 23 2.2.1 Nitrogen Dioxide .............................................................................................................. 23 2.2.2 Particulate Matter (PM10) ................................................................................................. 32 2.2.3 Sulphur Dioxide................................................................................................................ 34 2.2.4 Benzene ........................................................................................................................... 34 2.2.5 Other pollutants monitored .............................................................................................. 34 2.2.6 Summary of Compliance with AQS Objectives ............................................................... 38 3 Road Traffic Sources ..................................................................................... 39 3.1 Narrow Congested Streets with Residential Properties Close to the Kerb ..................... 39 3.2 Busy Streets Where People May Spend 1-hour or More Close to Traffic ....................... 39 3.3 Roads with a High Flow of Buses and/or HGVs. ............................................................. 39 3.4 Junctions .......................................................................................................................... 39 3.5 New Roads Constructed or Proposed Since the Last Round of Review and Assessment ................................................................................................................................. 40 3.6 Roads with Significantly Changed Traffic Flows .............................................................. 41 3.7 Bus and Coach Stations .................................................................................................. 41 4 Other Transport Sources ............................................................................... 42 4.1 Airports ............................................................................................................................. 42 4.2 Railways (Diesel and Steam Trains) ............................................................................... 42 4.2.1 Stationary Trains .............................................................................................................. 42 4.2.2 Moving Trains .................................................................................................................. 42 4.3 Ports (Shipping) ............................................................................................................... 42 5 Industrial Sources .......................................................................................... 43 5.1 Industrial Installations ...................................................................................................... 43 5.1.1 New or Proposed Installations for which an Air Quality Assessment has been Carried Out ...................................................................................................................................... 43 __________________________________________________________ LAQM USA 2015 4 Gateshead Council __________________________________________________ 5.1.2 Existing Installations where Emissions have Increased Substantially or New Relevant Exposure has been introduced ........................................................................................ 43 5.1.3 New or Significantly Changed Installations with No Previous Air Quality Assessment ..................................................................................................................................... 43 5.2 Major Fuel (Petrol) Storage Depots ................................................................................. 44 5.3 Petrol Stations.................................................................................................................. 44 5.4 Poultry Farms................................................................................................................... 44 6 Commercial and Domestic Sources ............................................................. 45 6.1 Biomass Combustion – Individual Installations ............................................................... 45 6.2 Biomass Combustion – Combined Impacts ..................................................................... 46 6.3 Domestic Solid-Fuel Burning ........................................................................................... 46 7 Fugitive or Uncontrolled Sources ................................................................. 47 8 Conclusions and Proposed Actions ............................................................. 48 8.1 Conclusions from New Monitoring Data .......................................................................... 48 8.2 Conclusions from Assessment of Sources ...................................................................... 48 8.3 Proposed Actions ............................................................................................................. 48 9 References .....................................................................................................