NSCA 2007 p001-xxx - IAQM

1 Dev elo pmentControl:PlanningFor Air quality (2010 Update)Up datedguidance fromEnvironmentalProte ctionUK on dealingwithair qu alityconcernswithinthe developmentcontrolprocessAbou t En vironmenta l ProtectionUKEnvi ronmen tal Pr otectionUK s visi on is of a clea ner, qui et er, healt hie r wor see k changesin polic y an d pr actic e to min imi se air , noi se and la ndpo lluti on, brin gin g tog eth er stak eholders to inf or m de bat e an d in fluencedeci si on making. We are a national me mb ersh ip base d ch arity and have bee npl ayi ng a leading role in envi ronmental pro tect ion in the UK sin ce 189 it sThi s up dat ed gui dancehas bee n edi te d princ ipallyby Profe ssor Dunc an Laxen,Pen ny WilsonandStephen Mo or croft(Ai r Qual ity Con sultants).

2 Envi ronmen ta l Prot ect ion UK is grateful to everyone whorespondedto the consultations and calls fo r evid enc e that helpedsh ape this are part icularly gratefulto stee ri ng grou p membe rs for volunteering th eir ti me to atte nd me etin gsand prov ide co mm ents on earli er ste eri ng groupinclud ed repr esentat ive s from:En viro nm en tal Pro te cti on UK al so grate fullyackn owledges the foll owin g orga nisat ionsfo r sup port ing the prod uc tio n of this guidance : AEA Technolog y Air quality Con sultants Bri ghto n and HoveCouncil Bri stol Cit y Council The Greater London Au thori ty The In st it ute of Air quality Managem ent Kin gs Coll ege LondonEnvironm ent Res ear ch Gr ou p Lew es Dis tri ct Council The Lond on Bo ro ugh of South wa rk The Low Emiss io n Strat egies Par tnership Mo tt Mac Do na ld Mu ir As soci at es Pete r Bre tt Assoc iat es The Sus sex Air Qu ali ty Pa rtn er ship The Univ er sit y of the Wes t of Engl an d Wes tlak es Sc ien ti fic Co nsul tin gCoverimage:Londonby SteveCadman EnvironmentalProtectionUK, April2010EX ECUTIV E SUM MA.

3 3 Summaryof Revisionsto Int ro duc tion to th e Int ro duc tion to Lo ca l Air Qua lity Man Int ro duc tion to Pl an nin qualityas a (SEA)..104. Deali ng wi th Plan nin g Ap plic ati ,systemsand areasof poorair new air Air Quali ty needfor an air an air datasetsand adequacyof an air effectivenessof mitigationas part of an air Asses singSignifican air significanceby the use of Mit igati ng Imp act conditions,and Low ..24 Examplesof planningconditionsand Co ncl usi ons and Key Poi : Glossaryof : Air : ImpactMagnitudeand ImpactDescriptorsin Relationto : PlanningAppealswhereAir Qualityhas beena 1 The di scussion of com mercially available prod ucts with in th isguid ance,su ch as disp ersi on models,does not con stitut een do rse me nt of any s documentrepresents pol icy gu id ancefro m Envi ronmental Prot ect ion UK, and doe s not necessarilyre fle ctpolicywi th in the or gani sat io ns of thosewho have cont ributed to, orwe re co nsult ed on, its deve lopment.

4 Information re lati ng to timerele vant items,su ch as li mit va lues,objectives,draft or oth ergu id ance document s, was correctat the ti me of production . DevelopmentControl : Pl anningforAirQuality2 EXE CU TIVESU MMARYEn vi ro nm ent al Prote ctio n UK has producedthi s gui danceto helpensurethat air qualityis properlyac coun te d for in the deve lo pme nt spa ti al pl anning system ha s an im portant role to play in improvingair qualityand reducingexposureto ai r pol lu ti on. Both the deve lo pm ent of loca l planningpolicyand th e de termi nationof indi vidualplanningap pl icati on s ar e imp orta nt, th e fo rmersettingthe fr am eworkfor the ses onde vel op me nt cont rol but also stre ssesthe importan ce of havinggoo d air qu ali ty poli cies withinthe localdevel op me nt framewo gu id ancedea ls prin cip al ly with thosepoll utantsregulatedunderthe localair qualityman agement(L AQM ) reg im e.

5 (wh ich is not cove re d in re gulati ons) is, however,givensomeattentionbe ca use ofit s sig ni fi cant healthef fectsand ab se nce of a safe level for exposure. Mentionis also madeof nitrogenox id es whi ch, alt hou gh not co ve re d in regul ations,ar e relevantfo r assessment of ecosystem ma in focusof the gu id an ce is on th e impactof trafficemissions,althoughincreasinglyloc alpl anni ng auth ori ti es (LP As) have to deal wi th the im pact of asse ssm ent and controlof du st imp act s duri ng co nstru ctio n is also considered,as dustscontr ibuteto airbo rne particulatematter,as wel l as to dust so ili ng .Em issi on s fr om in dustrial sou rce s ar e specifi cal ly not includedas they are principallycoveredby theEn vi ro nm ent al Permitti ng re gi me.

6 Assessmentsof the air quali ty impactsof majorroad sch emesarepr inci pa ll y co veredby th e De sig n Ma nual for Roadsand Bridges(D MRB)Volume11, Section3, Part 1 (AirQu al ity) , al th oughso me aspe cts of this gui dancemay be relevantfor gasemi ssio ns are also not add re ssedexplicitl y, as they are coveredby otherinitiatives,but synergiesshouldal waysbe soughtbe tw ee n me asure s to minimi se cl imatechangeand loc al air qualityimpacts. Odoursareno t in clu ded as the y apply to a smallerproportion of pl anningapplicationsand requiremorespecialistat te nt io n, dr awi ng on De fr a an d En vironmentAgencyguidancefor specificodoursources(or that producedby au th or it ie s in the De vo lved Administrations).Wh er e a pr oposeddeve lo pme nt is likel y to give ri se to significantair qu ali ty impa cts on the surroundingar ea or be im pact ed up on by existingpoorair quali ty, the plan ning process requiresassessment of theimp act s an d the in tro du ctionof measuresto mi ni mi se any ional planningpolicyre qui re s par ti cularatten tio n to be pai d to developmentwi thin or closeto areasformallydesi gnatedas airqu al ity man age mentare as (AQMAs).

7 In certaincir cu msta nces,air qual ity issueswi thin AQMA smay besu ffi cie nt for pl anni ng permi ssionto be refused,but thereis no blanketpresumption aga inst deve lopmentwit hi n ke y el ement of th is gui da nce is advi ce on describingair qualityimpacts and assessingtheirsign if ica nce. An imp orta nt distinctionis dr aw n betweenthe requi rementsfor the preparationof the airqu al ity assessment su bmittedwiththe planningapplication and its subsequentconsideration by thepl anni ng aut hori ty . Fo r th e ap pl ican t, the Instituteof Ai r QualityManagementhas provideddescriptorsofth e ai r qualit y im pa cts at spe cifie d receptors,and howto determine theiroverallsigni fi th or it y de cisi on ma ker s are pro vided,as par t of thi s guidance,with a step-by-stepapproachto helpde te rm ine th e im portance tha t sho ul d be placedon the air qualityimpactsin thei r recommendationsto thepl anni ng off icer.

8 Imp actsare cla ssifiedas rangi ng froman overridingco nsideration throughto a lowpr ior it y co nsi dera tio n . Th is cla ssificationis li nkedto measuresto reducethe impor tanceof ea rly an d effe ctivedialoguebetweendevelopers and planners,as well as betweenpl anne rs an d the en viro nme nta l officers,and the role and importanceof mitigationmeasuresand planningob lig ati on s, are al so explo re is docum ent up date s the guid anceoriginallypublishedby En viro nmentalProtection UK (formerlykno wn as the Nati on al So ci ety for CleanAir and En vironmental Protectio n) in November 2004(an dsub seq uen tly re visedin Sep tem ber 2006).Th e gu id anc e has been wide ly use d by local authorities , air qualitycon sult ant s and deve lo per s, and le ssonsle arnt ov er the pas t five yearsha ve led to a number of rev is io ns,whichare su mmarise d belo w.

9 In pa rt icularth ere is gre at er emphasis on measuresto mitigate the utiv e Summary Summary of Revisionsto GuidanceTh e 201 0 ver si on of thi s gui da nce takesaccountof a numberof new documentsissuedsi nce the previousversion,in clu di ng the 200 7 Air Qu al ity Str ate gy. It al so takesinto accountthe incr easeduse of on gsi de nume rou s ch an ge s to the text throughoutthe document,the mainch angessincethepre viou s ve rsi on are : Defi ni ti on s of ter min olo gy to be usedto de scribethe magnitude of changeand impacton ai r qualityatin di vi dua l re cept ors, as we ll as a number of am endments to the criteriafo r requiringAir QualityAsse ssment s, are pr ovid ed in th e sect ion on Air QualityAssessments(Chapter 5). Change s to th e wa y in wh ich th e air qual ity significanceof a developmentsho uld be assessedare setout in Chap ter 6.

10 The re visedappro ach relieson the professionaljudgementof the per son carrying outthe air qual ity assessment and und erl ines the requirem ent for this personto be appropriately qualifiedto car ry ou t the assessment. On th e otherhand,the approachto be takenby the localauthorityuponre cei vi ng th e air qu al ity asse ssmentremainsunchanged,oth er thannowexpl icitlyrefer ringtodevel op me nts th at in tr od uce new exposure into an ar ea of poorai r qual ity. Fol low in g fe edba ck, in th e ma in fr om local authorities,the sectionon impactmanagement (Chapter7)has be en str engt hene d to in clu de examples of impa ct managementand co nditionsrelatingto planningdecisi on s. Exa mp le s of appealdecisi on s re lati ng to air qua lity are incl udedin Appendix4.