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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department has had with Calderdale Council on improving air quality in Calderdale.

I have recently written to the leaders, chief executives and directors of public health of local authorities with air quality challenges across England, including Calderdale Council, to highlight the need to monitor progress on local improvements in air quality and ensure that the measures they are taking deliver results as soon as possible. I look forward to receiving Calderdale Council’s response.

As part of the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) Review and Assessment process, local authorities are required to submit an Annual Status Report (ASR) to Defra each year. Calderdale Council has consistently met its reporting obligations since 2009.

Calderdale Council’s ASR for 2016 indicates that the Council declared seven Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) between 2007 and 2014 due to exceedances of the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective. These AQMAs are located throughout the borough covering areas surrounding busy road networks.

Defra’s detailed appraisal of the ASR was sent to the Council in August. It set out recommendations to help improve air quality in its area. This included advice that the Council should aim to: revise its action plan published in 2009 as it only covered three of the seven current AQMAs; produce its first Air Quality Strategy, as well as adopting the West Yorkshire Low Emissions Strategy; and make improvements to its reporting of progress on measures and to its air quality monitoring regime. The Council has subsequently indicated that its action plan is under review.

Between 2011 and 2016, the Defra LAQM Helpdesk has provided technical support to Calderdale Council on a range of issues including pollutant monitoring and source apportionment, biomass screening and AQMA administrative support.