Revocation of South Normanton Air Quality Management Area Consultation 2021

Overview

The Council has a legal duty to regularly review and assess local air quality against national targets. Where levels of pollution are above those targets the Council must declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) and produce an Action Plan setting out the action that will be taken to reduce the pollution to acceptable levels. The South Normanton AQMA was initially created in 2001 because levels or nitrogen dioxide were above the national average target of 40 μg/m3. However, the levels of nitrogen dioxide have now been below the national target level for 7 years and the Council is confident that they will not rise above this level again. The Council is proposing to revoke (remove) the South Normanton AQMA which encompasses 12 properties (1-23 Carter Lane East).  The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have also recommended that the Council consider revoking the AQMA.  Revoking the AQMA's does not mean that the Council will not continue in its efforts to further improve air quality, only that the legal basis for maintaining the status of the AQMA no longer exists because air quality has improved and no longer exceeds the legal limit and is unlikely to exceed the legal limit in the future. More information on the AQMA including the geographical areas that it covers can be found within the Council's Annual Status Report 2020 located on the Councils Air Quality web pages (see link below).