Contact: Peter Syddall, ext 6050 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 Winchester City Council has declared the city centre as an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) because of the level of certain pollutants. The City Council has prepared an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) for the city centre to meet statutory requirements and to set out a series of actions to address the air quality problems.

1.2 The actions within the AQAP are consistent with the provisional Local Transport Plan that is due to be submitted to the Department for Transport at the end of this month. This reports recommends support for the AQAP but highlights the need to recognise that the funding and timing of the actions will be subject to the level of funding support to be made available by Central Government over the next five years.

2. Background

2.1 Since the implementation of Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 all local planning authorities have been under a duty to review air quality within their district. It is a requirement that each local authority conducts a formal staged review of air quality within its district in accordance with a comprehensive set of guidance documents. Reports on these reviews are then sent to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for approval.

2.2 In November 2003 Winchester City Council declared an AQMA within Winchester city centre for the pollutants nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particles (PM₁₀s). The City Council has a duty to prepare an AQAP setting out how the air quality problems will be reduced.

2.3 The City Council's Cabinet is due to approve the final version of the AQAP on 26 July 2005, subject to any further comments from the County Council.

2.4 The matrix from the AQAP showing actions, the likely scale of costs of measures, the responsible authorities and timescales is attached as an appendix to this report. Copies of the full version of the AQAP have been placed in the Members' Room.

3. Proposed Actions and Measures

3.1 The plan details a combination of actions that can be broadly summarised as:

(i) proposals as part of the MIRACLES project;

(ii) further development of Workplace and School Travel Plans;

(iii) promotion of walking and cycling;

(iv) improvements to public transport and further Park and Ride provision;

(v) emission testing of road vehicles and promotion of cleaner vehicles;

(vi) improved traffic management, including possible traffic rerouteing;

(vii) improvements to taxi fleets;

(viii) review of car parking strategy and provision; and

(ix) improved information and advice on reducing pollution within the AQMA.

3.2 Most of the actions identified in the plan rely upon initiatives and proposals that will be brought forward wholly or partly by the County Council, predominantly through the Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 (LTP2).

3.3 Central to the plan being successful will be reducing the impact and amount of traffic in the city centre and promoting cleaner vehicles. Key actions to achieve a reduction in the impact and amount of traffic include additional Park and Ride capacity, possible changes to traffic circulation and the relocation of long term parking in the city centre to future Park and Ride car parks. Cleaner vehicles will rely on new technology and the support and engagement of businesses and bus operators. Incentives can also be introduced to encourage use of less polluting vehicles by both private and commercial road users.

4. Discussion

4.1 The new, provisional Local Transport Plan 2006-2011 was considered by the County Council's Cabinet on 11 July 2005 and full Council on 21 July 2005, prior to submission to the Department for Transport at the end of this month.

4.2 The LTP2 of course contains a section on Air Quality and will set out a transport plan for Winchester (as part of the Central Hampshire Transport Strategy). The importance of addressing the air quality problems in Winchester city centre are fully recognised. A key aim of the transport plan for Winchester is to reduce the impact of traffic that contributes to those problems. Hence the LTP2 includes proposals to provide further Park and Ride capacity to the south of Winchester and related bus priority measures. It also includes proposals to model traffic circulation in the city and to evaluate options which could help to reduce flows on roads within the centre. These measures will be complemented by initiatives to reduce the overall need to travel.

4.3 Hence the actions proposed in the AQAP are consistent with the LTP2. However, the implementation of the capital programme over the next five years is subject to the level of funding that will be made available by Central Government and the budgets and priorities set by the County Council in the light of that funding. In addition considerable feasibility work will be required on some proposals. The Government's LTP funding formula is still awaited and uncertainty remains about the size and shape of the County Council's five year capital programme. It is therefore prudent that the programme of schemes for Winchester, as for other areas, should be seen as provisional at this stage.

4.4 The actions contained in the AQAP are therefore clearly supported, but the plan should recognise that their implementation is subject to the level of funding support from Central Government.

5. Impact Assessment

5.1 The Air Quality Action Plan proposes a set of measures that would benefit all sectors of the community through improved air quality. The impact of specific measures would be assessed as they are developed through to Project Appraisal, where appropriate, and implementation.

Recommendation

That Winchester City Council be advised that:

(i) the preparation of an Air Quality Action Plan for Winchester is supported;

(ii) the County Council looks forward to continuing to work with the City Council on measures to address air quality problems;

(iii) the funding and timing of the various actions, identified to be undertaken by the County Council as highway authority, will be subject to appropriate feasibility studies and the level of funding to be made available by Central Government through the Local Transport Plan process. The plan should include a statement to this effect; and hence

(iv) no firm guarantees can yet be given on projects and schemes that are not programmed and have not been demonstrated as feasible.

412Rpt/PCS

APPENDIX

THE MATRIX - RESPONSIBILITIES FOR INITIATIVES AND ACTIONS

Key to Abbreviations

HCC : Hampshire County Council

HCC - MIRACLES : Hampshire County Council - MIRACLES project

HCC - LTP : Hampshire County Council - Local Transport Plan (LTP2 covers period 2006-11)

PCT : Primary Care Trust

WCC : Winchester City Council

For schemes and measures to be financed through the Local Transport Plan, the funding and timing of those measures will be subject to appropriate feasibility studies, the level of capital funding made available from Central Government and decisions on budget allocations arising from that funding.