Agenda item

This report discusses the outcomes of public consultation on the proposals put forward as part of the draft Ashbourne Air Quality Management Area Action Plan and makes recommendations to Members as to the establishment of a working group to assist with the ongoing development of actions to address air quality issues.

The Director of Regulatory Services introduced a report outlining the outcomes of the public consultation on the proposals put forward as part of the draft Ashbourne Air Quality Management Area Action Plan. The report sought Member approval for the establishment of a working group to assist with the ongoing development of actions to address air quality issues.

At a Meeting of the Committee on 7th April 2021 it was agreed that updating reports would be submitted to further meetings of the Community and Environment Committee whilst work was undertaken to develop a draft Action Plan to address the exceedance of the air quality objective. These updating reports had been considered by the Committee at regular intervals and had led to proposals being agreed for public consultation. The period of public consultation concluded on 26th June 2023 and the outcomes from that consultation exercise had been analysed and detailed in Appendix 2 to the report.

At the meeting of the Community and Environment Committee on 13th July 2023 the Committee discussed the desirability of re-establishing an ongoing Working Group to monitor the success or otherwise of any Action Plan and to consider any necessary future developments of that Action Plan. It was suggested that the re-establishment of such a Working Group could provide a forum to consider and prepare further options for actions that could address air quality issues within the Ashbourne Air Quality Management Area for future consideration by the Community and Environment Committee, taking into account the outcomes from the consultation exercise and the implications of the Ashbourne Reborn project.

The recommendations as set out in the report were moved by Councillor Peter Dobbs and seconded by Councillor Robert Archer with the following amendment to recommendation 2:

2. That an Air Quality Action Plan Working Group be re-established, with a membership drawn from but not limited to those individuals listed in paragraph 2.18 below with a core group within the working group to provide continuity for the collation and evaluation of possible actions, with the core group to be at least one officer from the District Council and two elected Members taken from the list set out in the report.

The motion was put to the vote and

RESOLVED (Unanimously)

1.    That the responses received from the consultation exercise in relation to the Ashbourne Air Quality Action Plan be noted.

2.    That an Air Quality Action Plan Working Group be re-established, with a membership drawn from but not limited to those individuals listed in paragraph 2.18 below with a core group within the working group to provide continuity for the collation and evaluation of possible actions, with the core group to be at least one officer from the District Council and two elected Members taken from the list set out in the report.

3.    That progress on the re-establishment of the working group and its preliminary findings be reported to the next meeting of the Community and Environment Committee.

4.    That a report be prepared on the options and costs associated with expanding the Council’s current air quality monitoring to include fine particulates.

The Chair declared the motion CARRIED.