Issue details

To agree the works required to meet the requirements of the compliance Directive which was issued to the Council by the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on 27 July 2017 up to the production but not submission of the Final Plan (31^st December 2018 at the latest).

In November 2016, the non-profit environmental law organisation ClientEarth won a Supreme Court ruling against the Government which ordered ministers to come up with a plan to bring down air pollution levels to within legal limits as soon as possible.

The latest plan was published in July 2017 and Fareham Borough Council was highlighted as one of the Authorities that must produce a targeted local plan to tackle likely exceedances of Nitrogen dioxide levels.

This relates to an area of road from the M27 motorway Junction 11 to the A27 Market Quay ‘through-about’ and along the A27 to the Station roundabout and branching into the Portchester Road and into the A32. To that end, on 27 July 2017 the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issued a Compliance Directive on Fareham Borough Council, along with the other Authorities that were listed. This Directive requires the Authority to undertake and submit by 31 March 2018 a Feasibility Study (Initial Plan) to identify the option which will deliver compliance with legal limits. The Authority must also submit a Final Plan by 31 December 2018 which must identify the preferred option to deliver compliance.

The Government is funding this work. The Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) which is a Government unit consisting of staff from DEFRA and the Department for Transport (DfT) are closely monitoring progress on compliance with the Directive. They have produced detailed guidance on the work that must be undertaken and are requiring approval at each stage. A report was taken to the Executiveon 9 October 2017 – to provide an update on the National and Local Air Quality Action Plans.  In addition, a report was taken to the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection on 1 November 2017 in order to approve the procurement of an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Survey to meet the initial requirement of the Air Quality Compliance Notice.

In order to meet the Feasibility Study requirements, significant air quality and traffic modelling consultancy must be procured and undertaken, all of which will be agreed beforehand by JAQU and funded by them.

In order to meet the Council’s procurement regulations and the project’s tight timelines, the most expedient way of doing this to ensure that there are no delays is to give the Director of Planning and Regulation the Delegated Authority to do this, in consultation with the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection.

In addition, at the time of writing, it has become apparent that the Initial Plan which must be delivered by the end of March 2108 also does not fit easily with report lead in times and as this is really only determining which measures go forward for further examination, based on recommendations by all of the experts involved and subject to the requirement for further JAQU funding, it would aid this project immensely if the Director of Planning and Regulation could be given Delegated Authority to submit this plan to JAQU, following consultation with the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection.