What is being done?
Liverpool City Council have to produce a Clean Air Plan to tackle air pollution. This is what has happened to get to this stage
In 2015 Client Earth took the UK Government to the Supreme Court over its inaction to address air quality
The Government were therefore instructed to develop an air quality plan to achieve reductions of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in the shortest possible time, in line with the legislative requirements.
‘Improving Air Quality in the UK’ was issued in December 2015. This identified cities that would exceed air quality limits.
Ministerial directions were issued between December 2015 and October 2018 to local authorities who were required to produce an air quality plan to address their road NO2 exceedances, and Liverpool City Council were among the third wave of local authorities to be issued with a Government direction in October 2018
Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide
The ‘UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations’ published in 2017 by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for Transport (DfT) states that local authorities should deliver a scheme or set of schemes that leads to compliance with NO2 concentration limits in the shortest possible time.
It highlights the negative effect that air pollution can have on public health, the natural environment, and the economy, while also highlighting the UK Government’s commitment to building a stronger economy and a fairer society.
Clean Air Strategy
The UK Government published a Clean Air Strategy in 2019 outlining its plans to tackle air pollution
The Government is investing £255 million through the Implementation Fund and £220 million through the Clean Air Fund (CAF) for UK towns & and cities to develop local air quality plans with the aim of bringing the UK within legal limits. This funding is being allocated to local authorities including Liverpool.
A Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is the UK Government preferred option for improving air quality in the shortest possible time.
Ministerial Direction
The Clean Air Zone Framework that was first published in 2017 (updated in 2020) by Defra and DfT, sets out the principles for the operation of Clean Air Zones in England.
As part of current statutory limits, Liverpool City Council need to ensure that air quality values do not exceed:
- An annual mean NO2 concentration of 40 micrograms per cubic metre of air (µg/m3)
- An hourly mean NO2 concentration of 200 µg/m3, to be exceeded no more than 18 times per year
Council development of Clean Air Plan
Starting in 2019 the Council has modelled several charging CAZ options, none of which addressed all the identified road exceedances.
As such the council are developing several non-CAZ options to address the remaining exceedances, as this will achieve compliance in the shortest possible time.
Due to wider improvements in compliant fleet, the exceedances are forecast to naturally comply in 2023 and 2024, so the Council are working to bring forward compliance in the shortest possible time.
