Air quality in part of Chichester has improved so much that it no longer needs to be classed as an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).
The news about the St Pancras AQMA was shared during a meeting of the district council’s environment panel on Monday (June 22).
The AQMA was established in 2007 when the area around the Nags Head – between Eastgate Square and New Park Road – failed to meet the national annual mean air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide of 40 micrograms per cubic metre.
Simon Ballard, the council’s environmental protection manager, told the meeting that the St Pancras AQMA was the last of four previously established in the city.
He added that the nitrogen dioxide levels had been compliant with the national standards for six years. Government guidance suggests authorities should wait at least five years before considering the removal of an AQMA.
The proposed removal will be recommended to a meeting of the cabinet in July. If it is approved, it won’t mean the council stops monitoring the area.
From February 2027, the plan is to adopt an Air Quality Strategy, in place of the current Action Plan, while diffusion tubes will continue to monitor the levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air.
When asked about other pollutants in the air and potential risks to people with breathing problems, Mr Ballard acknowledged that the World Health Organisation had a ‘significantly tighter’ standard when it came to air quality.
But he added: “You’d be very unlikely to be impacted by walking down the length of St Pancras even as a person with very sensitive respiratory health.”
The panel recommended to the cabinet that the AQMA be revoked, that air quality monitoring would continue in the area, and that a draft Air Quality Strategy be developed and adopted.
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