Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department's projections are for levels of air pollution in the Ribble Valley over the next five years.

The latest projections for Ribble Valley Borough Council were undertaken as part of the analysis carried out during the development of the Air Quality Plans (published in December last year). For the purposes of air quality assessment, the UK is divided into 43 zones. The Ribble Valley is within the North West & Merseyside zone and the plan for the North West & Merseyside zone can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486209/aq-plan-2015-north-west-and-merseyside-uk0033.pdf.

The latest projections for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀) for the Ribble Valley are shown below. These projections used a base year of 2013. It shows the maximum modelled concentration in the 2013 base year is predicted to decrease by 2020 for all three pollutants. These maximum concentrations are well below the relevant annual mean limit values for all three pollutants.

The projections for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are available here: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/library/no2ten/2015-no2-projections-from-2013-data.