A consultation on delivering cleaner air in towns, cities and rural areas across England has been launched by the Government. Their revised Air Quality Strategy outlines how councils in England should use existing powers more effectively to deliver improvements to air quality.

 

Lynsted with Kingsdown Parish Council has responded to this consultation.  We argue communities should have open access to calculations of additional harm arising from every planning application.  Currently, developers can claim their housing plans have negligible impact when taken in isolation, so the cumulative impact is ignored.

We should also have access to real time measurements of the four key harmful pollutants.  This would enable residents to understand when small changes in behaviour might protect them from the worst harms.  For example, identifying routes and times best suited for work or outdoor activities, and enabling walkers or cyclists to take less polluted routes or choose times of lower pollution.

Ultimately, the most important focus should be ‘enforcement’.  Simple aspirational objectives are worse than useless.

You can read our full response HERE