The Committee received a report on the development of the Reading Air Quality Action Plan 2024-2028. The report sought the approval of the Committee to conduct a public consultation on the on the draft Reading Air Quality Action Plan 2024-2028 and outlined the next steps for its adoption. A copy of the draft Reading Air Quality Action Plan 2024-2028 was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The report explained that, whilst air quality had improved in the town, there were still some locations where nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) levels were above recommended UK and World Health Organization (WHO) air quality limits. The Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) sought to target these locations to make them compliant with UK and WHO standards and at the same as air quality across Reading as a whole. The draft AQAP identified the areas where the Council needed to improve air quality and set out the actions that officers planned to take over the next five years.

The previous Air Quality Action Plan, which had run between 2016 and 2020, had focused on actions to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) levels in order to achieve compliance with national objectives. The report listed several of the successful initiatives that had been delivered through the last action plan and provided figures gathered from the Council’s monitoring network that demonstrated that there had been considerable improvements in NO₂ levels between 2018 and 2022.

The new draft AQAP aimed to continue with efforts to reduce NO₂ levels but also placed a new emphasis on targeting and reducing fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) emissions. The new emphasis was required due to the mounting evidence that pointed to PM_2.5 emissions being extremely harmful to human health and meant that the new AQAP aligned with the changes that had been made to national policy in response to this latest evidence. Measures to address PM_2.5 emissions had therefore been given considerable weight throughout the new draft AQAP.

The initial draft AQAP (attached at Appendix 1) had been produced working with the support of environmental consultants Phlorum. The draft AQAP contained updated baseline data figures and trajectories for Reading, updates to align the AQAP with changes made to local and national policies over the last two years, updates to align the AQAP with the Reading Transport Plan and current thinking relating to air quality practice and listed the members of the Air Quality Steering Group (AQSG) who had contributed to the development of the draft AQAP.  Policies outlined with the AQAP included direct policy interventions, infrastructure schemes and education/enabling options that would help to support Reading’s ambitious plans and UK strategies going forward. Policy options would also include strategies to encourage or accelerate the uptake of low to zero emission vehicles, non-diesel vehicles, increase modal shift and discourage vehicle usage in certain areas where people lived or went to school. Active Travel and health options were also prioritised, alongside specific measures to reduce particulate matter (PM) concentrations.

The report explained that, subject to the approval of the Committee, a consultation process, as prescribed in Local Air Quality Management guidance, would be carried out to ensure that all the required stakeholders were able to comment and provide feedback. The consultation would include members of the Air Quality Steering Group, statutory consultees and the public. A report setting out the results of the consultation would be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee at which the approval would also be sought to adopt a final version of the Air Quality Action Plan.

At the meeting the Principal Air Quality Project Officer advised the Committee that the Council were required to submit an annual progress report on air quality to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and that the same report could be shared with the Committee as a means of tracking the progress of the AQAP. 

Resolved –

(1)           That the draft Air Quality Action Plan be approved to be taken forward for consultation;

(2)           That it be noted that a further report would be submitted to the March 2024 meeting following the consultation to adopt the final Air Quality Action Plan.