Air Quality Management Areas update – August 2024

In 2024, the Council was informed by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) that the four Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in the borough needed to be revoked due to the pollution levels dropping to within the legal limits for consecutive years.

The areas in Charnwood are Loughborough Market Place, the Great Central Railway, Mountsorrel Quarry and around Melton Road in Syston.

Full details about the AQMAs being revoked can be found on this dedicated webpage.

We have been reporting pollution levels in these areas for many years to Defra. The monitoring results have shown that pollution in these areas have fallen and over the last five years have been consistently below National Air Quality Objectives. Now Defra have told the Council to remove the AQMAs. The Council does not have a choice in this decision. Therefore, the AQMAs will be removed.

This does not mean that monitoring in these areas will cease. The Council still has a legal responsibility to monitor and submit an annual air quality status report to Defra.

We will also be producing an Air Quality Strategy for the whole borough to help continue to improve air quality in the area and reduce exposure to pollution.

Consultation

The Council ran a four-week consultation for residents to have their say on the AQMAs being revoked.

A total of 86 responses were received from residents.

74 of these were regarding Mountsorrel Quarry, with issues around visible dust and health concerns being a common theme throughout the responses.

20 responses also mentioned that they did not want monitoring to end and were concerned that the removal of the AQMAs would lead to air pollution rising.

Monitoring of these areas and the whole of the borough will continue despite the AQMAs being revoked.

The responses to the consultation will also be taken into account when the Air Quality Strategy is developed later this year.

What will be happening next?

The Council must now revoke the AQMAs due to instruction by Defra and this is expected to be completed by October.

Defra will be made aware that the consultation took place through the annual report which is submitted by the Council.

An Air Quality Strategy is currently being developed to help improve the air quality across the whole of Charnwood and the areas covered by the AQMAs will continue to be monitored to ensure that they remain below the legal limit.

FAQs

Concerns around Mountsorrel Quarry

With many of the responses voicing concerns around Mountsorrel Quarry, the Council is currently and will continue to be in communication with the operator of the quarry, Tarmac.

Results of the consultation will be sent to the company and the area will continue to be monitored by the Council and Tarmac.

The AQMA order designated in relation to Mountsorrel Quarry related specifically to concentrations of local PM₁₀  (particulate dust).  Particulates of this size are not visible to the naked eye and are small enough to penetrate to the lungs.  PM₁₀ content is therefore monitored independently from the larger ‘visible’ dust fraction many respondents have commented on, which falls outside the scope of this process.  The larger dust will continue to be subject to more general interventions agreed with the quarry management.

How was the consultation promoted?

The Council published the consultation across its social media channels with a total of six posts during the period that it was open.

The consultation was also sent out to subscribers of the Council’s email newsletters.

A press release was published to the media with a news story printed in the Loughborough Echo on Wednesday, 24 July 2024. It may have also featured in smaller village publications.

Letters were emailed to parish councils, local councillors, local Members of Parliament and other community groups.

It was also discussed at a quarry liaison group meeting which includes representatives from Tarmac and the local community.