Air quality - review and assessment

The Environmental Management team monitors district wide air quality and produces documents reporting measured statistics, monitoring results, costs and benefit analysis and strategies, which are sent to DEFRA (Department of Environment and Rural Affairs). This process is known as Local Air Quality Management (LAQM).

All the air quality reports are available on-line as PDF files or by contacting the Air Quality Team.

There are 5 main types of document associated with air quality. They are released periodically, the Progress Report more frequently than the others.

Air Quality Action Plan

An Air Quality Action Plan must be produced where AQMA's have been declared. The report provides the mechanism through which Chichester District Council states its intentions for improving local air quality within its district.

Air Quality E-zines

The air quality e-zine is produced on a quarterly basis. Its aim is to keep the community updated on the results of our monitoring within the AQMA's.

Detailed Assessment

A Detailed Assessment is required when it has been identified that an Objective is likely to be breached in the Progress Report or the USA Report. The Detailed Assessment involves computer modelling and helps to determine the need to declare or amend Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs).

Further Assessment

The Further Assessment assesses the current and future air quality within a declared AQMA. The report estimates by how much air pollution concentrations will exceed the air quality objectives, quantifies the predominant sources of the pollution and assesses the likely improvements needed in order to meet the relevant objectives. A Further Assessment is produced to verify the findings of the Detailed Assessment.

Progress Report

An Air Quality Progress Report is produced annually in the intervening years between the release of an Updating and Screening Assessment. The report is an assessment and summary of the results measured by the real time and passive air quality devices in the district. The objective of the Progress Report is to identify any changes in air quality within the district during the year in question.

Updating and Screening Assessment (USA)

The Updating and Screening Assessment identifies matters that have changed since the last review and assessment, which might lead to a risk of an air quality objective being exceeded. The USA is compiled once every three years.