Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had discussions with property developers on the potential merits of creating legal requirements for air pollution monitors to be built onto new properties or estates for the provision of localised data.

There are already strong protections in place in national planning policy to safeguard people from unacceptable risks from air pollution. These will be material considerations for a local council when determining a planning application, as will the planning concerns of the local community.

The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that new development should be appropriate for its location, taking account of the effects of pollution on people's health. The planning guidance which supports the National Planning Policy Framework sets out when air quality could be relevant to a planning decision, including requirements for an Environmental Impact Assessment.

There are currently more than 500 air quality monitoring sites, managed at least partly by the Environment Agency, across the United Kingdom, made up of 14 networks measuring a range of pollutants, which provide information to the public. These are managed by the Environment Agency on behalf of Defra.