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Fareham Borough Council's Air Quality Action Plan Steering Group, together with NHS Hampshire has published a leaflet 
(2 MB) on the subject of poor local air quality due to emissions from traffic and potential health effects. The leaflet also provides guidance on how individuals can help to reduce local air pollution by considering more sustainable forms of transport such as walking, cycling, taking public transport or car sharing.
If you would like a copy of the leaflet please contact regulatory@fareham.gov.uk.
Fareham Borough Council regularly monitors emissions to air, land and water to record, in particular, levels of nitrogen dioxide, radiation and bacteriological contamination respectively.
The Regulatory Services department also regulates certain industrial processes such as the crematorium, paint sprayers, a foundry, a printing process and a surface coating process.
Fareham Borough Council has certain statutory duties in respect of local air quality management under the Environment Act 1995. The Council has to carry out regular reviews and assessments of air quality in the Borough. Where pollution levels exceed Air Quality Strategy objective levels, the Council must designate air quality management areas (AQMA) and implement remedial action plans to tackle the air pollution problem.
Reviews may include monitoring work concentrating on busy roads and road junctions in respect of emissions of nitrogen dioxide and particulates, both of which can have an effect on health, from road vehicle exhausts.
As required by the Environment Act 1995, a study of the air quality in the Borough was completed in 1999. The results indicated that the level of air pollutants were within specified limits and an air quality management area was not declared for Fareham Borough Council.
For one week in May (14 - 20 May 2012) several local authorities in the region and Groundwork Solent are taking part in the Big Green Commuter Challenge 2012. This is the tenth year of the Challenge but this is the first time that Fareham Borough Council will officially participate.
The Council is looking for other organisations and companies in the Borough to join us in the Challenge. Employees all over the Borough will be encouraged to use alternative modes of transport to the car for their commute to work and for business journeys for a minimum of one day during the Challenge week eg walking, cycling, taking public transport, working from home, car sharing etc.
The Challenge is a competition between workplaces to encourage people to reduce car use, congestion and emissions. Workplaces compete against each other to see which one can cut the most car miles by:-
Find out what is involved at www.thebiggreencommuterchallenge.co.uk 
and register online to take part.
There will be public transport discounts for those taking part; a prize draw open to all; awards based on the size of the employing organisation or company for the most miles saved and the overall winner will receive the BIG Green Commuter Challenge Shield. Finally, an individual special effort prize is normally awarded.
If you have any questions in the meantime please contact Heather Cusack at Fareham Borough Council on 01329 236100.
Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 places a statutory duty on local authorities to review and assess the air quality within their area and take account of Government Guidance when undertaking such work. This requires an Updating and Screening Assessment (USA) of the local air quality every three years. The USA is intended to identify any significant changes that may have occurred since the previous rounds of review and assessment were completed.
The USA 2012 (1 MB) concludes that the annual mean nitrogen dioxide objective was achieved at all monitoring locations including diffusion tubes and the continuous monitor at the junction of Gosport Road and Elms Road Fareham. In addition, none of the remaining six key pollutants, that is, benzene, 1, 3-butadiene, carbon monoxide, lead, particulates (PM10) and sulphur dioxide, are likely to be exceeded at any location within the Borough. Therefore, a detailed assessment is not required at this stage.
The 2011 nitrogen dioxide diffusion tube results suggest a regional decrease in ambient nitrogen dioxide concentrations. The Council proposes to retain the current level of nitrogen dioxide diffusion tube monitoring to investigate whether the 2011 results are an indication of a long-term downward trend or a short-term deviation driven by meteorological and other regional factors. A further continuous nitrogen dioxide monitor was installed at Portland Street in April 2012, financed by a section 106 planning agreement with the Quay Street food retail developer.
The Council concludes from the assessment of road transport and other emissions sources that no significant changes have occurred since the previous round of review an assessment. Furthermore, there are no new, previously unassessed sources, which are considered likely to lead to significant increases in the concentrations of any of the prescribed pollutants. On the basis of these findings it is not necessary to proceed to a detailed assessment for any pollutant at this stage.
The Council will continue to monitor nitrogen dioxide concentrations within the Borough and will compile an Air Quality Progress Report in 2013 in line with the Government's timetable to provide an update of all aspects covered in the USA 2012.
Should you have any comments on the USA 2012 please direct them to regulatory@fareham.gov.uk before the end of August 2012.
As reported in the Progress Report 2011 section above, the actions contained within the AQAP were reviewed in 2011and appropriate changes made to the actions, targets and indicators. This amended table of AQAP actions was approved by Defra in November 2011and the Council's Executive in June 2012.
The amended plan with 2012 progress updates (284 KB) has again, as required by Government guidance, been submitted to Defra as the Air Quality Action Plan Progress Report 2012.
Completed actions include the opening of the busway between Gosport and Fareham; the construction of the "throughabout" at Portland Street; the installation of the new air quality monitor at Portland Street; the Big Green Commuter Challenge 2012 and the publication of the air quality and health leaflet by the AQAP steering group.
We produced a further mandatory Air Quality Progress Report in 2013 (5 MB) to provide an update on air quality issues in the Borough. It was undertaken in keeping with progress report guidance LAQM.PG(09). As a result, both AQMAs will remain in place.
The report considered new monitoring data for nitrogen dioxide from 2012 including the new continuous monitoring station at Portland Street. Assessment of the 2012 dataset showed that the annual mean for nitrogen dioxide was not exceeded at either monitoring station. However, the annual mean for nitrogen dioxide was exceeded at two diffusion tubes. Further assessment of these two tubes is not required as both sites are already within the two AQMAs.
The air quality action plan (AQAP) implementation group continues to meet and pursue the actions in the plan, including the completion of the Quay Street roundabout and the Eclipse busway, the new bus lanes in Fareham, the installation and operation of the new monitoring station on Portland Street, Council staff taking part in the Big Green Commuter Challenge 2012 and the MyJourney Challenge this year and distributing the air quality and health leaflet to GP surgeries.
In terms of recent planning applications, the opening of the Yew Tree bus gate is of interest as is the Daedalus redevelopment both of which include air quality assessments as increased traffic movements may result in increased pollution emissions. Reference was also made to Hampshire County Council's local transport plan for 2013 -2016 with planned improvements to Newgate Lane for cyclists, our own environmental sustainability strategy and Welborne, the new community area to the north of Fareham.
Fareham Borough Council has undertaken this 2014 progress report (5 MB) in fulfilment of the Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) process as set out in Part IV of the Environment Act (1995), the Air Quality Strategy (AQS) for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 2007 and the relevant Policy and Technical Guidance documents.
Two Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) are still currently in place at Gosport Road and Portland Street for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Following the conclusions of this report it is recommended that the present AQMA declarations should remain.
The monitoring data for 2013 has indicated that the annual mean NO2 objective was achieved at all monitoring locations except for two sites within the existing AQMAs that is, G7 and PS3 and one site outside the existing AQMAs, G10. A detailed assessment was conducted at G10 in 2010 which showed no exceedances at the façade of the properties and the AQMAs were not adjusted. As the exceedance is marginal (40.50μg/m3), a continuation of monitoring will take place in order to fully assess whether a detailed assessment is required in the future.
The two sites within the existing AQMAs, G7 and PS3, also showed marginally exceedences of the annual mean objective and it is hoped that further monitoring will show a further downward trend as shown in the majority of sites and in the AQMAs. The conversion of the Quay Street roundabout to a "throughabout" in November 2011, the opening of the Eclipse bus route in April 2012 and the opening of the Western Way bus gate in June 2014, should all contribute to this trend in the future.
The 2013 NO2 diffusion tube results show a slight increase compared to 2012 however, the overall trend shows a regional decrease in ambient NO2 concentrations. It is not believed that more monitoring sites will be needed; instead the Council will continue to monitor the existing sites to investigate whether the results are a short-term deviation, driven by meteorological and other regional factors.
The 2014 report also includes an update of the AQAP originally produced in 2008. Many actions have been completed including:-
Following the success of the Big Green Commuter Challenge, Fareham Borough Council employees took part in the Sustrans organised My Journey Commuter Challenge in May 2013 and 2014. In 2014, 140 businesses and 1650 people took part. In swapping their individual car journeys to and from work for car sharing, walking, cycling, public transport and other sustainable travel means, car commuters saved 313,373 miles and over £45,000. Fareham came third in the large organisation category with 11% of the staff saving over 4000 car miles in their commute to work.
Further information on air quality can be found at the following web sites:
For further information regarding the air quality review process or any other matter such as bonfire smoke, dust, fumes, odours and noise, please do not hesitate to contact Regulatory Services on 01329 236100 or email regulatory@fareham.gov.uk.
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