Agenda item

ES20188

Members were pleased to note that nitrogen dioxide levels in the borough were decreasing in line with national guidelines and that four new active monitors had been installed. A Member expressed a desire to extend the amount of nitrogen dioxide reporting alongside an extension of the reporting of pollution from particulate matter. She felt that what was also required was to note particular days and times when pollution levels were high and requested more information going forward about Action Areas. The Environmental Protection and Housing Regulation Manager responded by saying that PM 2.5 was now monitored at five locations which was an increase from zero. She said that currently a full annual range of particulate matter data was not available to report on.

It was explained that there were currently two air quality focus areas which were monitored primarily for historical reasons as previously the pollutant levels in those areas had exceeded a certain threshold. It was noted that those levels were now below the ASR recommendations. The Head of Service for Community Safety, Licencing, Environmental and Domestic regulation explained that what was important was average pollutant readings over a significant period of time.

The Portfolio Holder for Sustainability, Green Services and Open Spaces said that  air quality data from the Borough would be provided to the GLA and to Central Government. Where the data indicated, there would be an extension of Air Quality Action Areas. If there were breaches of pollutant levels in a particular area, then an Air Quality Action Plan would be required to deal with this. It was the case that Air Quality Action Plans and Air Quality Monitoring Areas were not fixed and static, but were fluid and changeable as required.

The Portfolio Holder for Transport, Highways and Road Safety gave a brief update with respect to car idling and informed the Committee that currently there was no official draft sign from the Department of Transport that the Council could use and post on lampposts. There was also some concern that the fine for idling was only £20 and this probably needed to be increased.

The Vice Chairman stated that Bromley's air quality was good. He referenced new targets were released from the World Health Organisation. Now there were four transitional targets before the main target. He stated that Bromley's PM10 target was 0.4 above the final World Health Organisation target which was astounding. He also stated that with respect to PM 2.5, the Council had exceeded the interim targets 1, 2 and 3 and had almost exceeded target 4. He said that the Council was also beating the NO2 WHO target. It was asked if the Council took any measurements with respect to Ozone levels. The Environmental Protection and Housing Regulation Manager said that ozone had been measured historically, but that because now it was not regarded as a pollution concern it was not being measured. It was agreed that the  Environmental Protection and Housing Regulation Manager would write to the Vice Chairman concerning this.

A Member asked for data concerning the running of the Harwood Monitoring Centre and asked if it had ever broken down or if there were times when it was not working. The Environmental Protection and Housing Regulation Manager answered and said that there may have been short periods of downtime but she was not aware of any significant disruption. She agreed to check and provide an update.

A Member said that it would be useful for Councillors to be provided with the details of the locations of the monitors.

RESOLVED that the Annual Status Report for 2021 be noted.