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The Borough is required by Government, under the Environment Act 1995, to review and assess air quality. The first national air quality strategy was published in 1997, following a review in 1998 a revised strategy was published in January 2000.
The latest Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland was published in July 2007. This new strategy sets out a way forward for work and planning on air quality issues, sets out the air quality standards and objectives to be achieved and introduces a new policy framework for tackling fine particles. To recieve a copy, visit the defra website. See defra – Air Quality Strategy
The Borough must regularly review levels of benzene, 1-3 butadiene, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particles (PM10), and sulphur dioxide in relation to specific health based objectives.
For the seven pollutants, please see air quality objectives).
In September 2002 the Mayor for London published his air quality strategy 'Cleaning London's Air'.
See www.london.gov.uk. This document sets out policies that will help to improve London's air quality based on the national air quality objectives. It focuses on two pollutants, nitrogen dioxide and particulates and promotes measures that will reduce these pollutants from road transport. This strategy also aims to co-ordinate the efforts of local authorities.
The first phase of the Borough's review and assessment process was completed in 2003 with the publication of the fourth stage Review and Assessment report. This predicted that two pollutants, nitrogen dioxide and particulates would exceed the Government objectives for 2004-2005 and in accordance with the legislation, declared the whole Borough an air quality management area (AQMA). An Air Quality Action Plan outlining methods that would help to reduce air polluting in the specified area was also published in May 2003.
Download a map showing all those Boroughs which were involved in the monitoring exercise London Boroughs involved in the review and assessment modelling. [PDF file]
The maps below display the concentrations of these two pollutants around Kensington and Chelsea.
The Royal Borough completed its first Updating and Screening Assessment in 2003, which marks the start of the second phase. This assessment re-examined all the pollutants including those that were previously eliminated to see if any changes had occurred. We concluded that there have been few changes since the first round of review and assessment and that it would not be necessary to proceed to a Detailed Assessment at this time.
This was followed by the publication of a Local Air Quality Management Progress report in April 2005. This document combined the latest monitoring data with information on the progress that has been made on our action plan. Work will now commence on the next review and assessment report which will be published at the end of April 2006.
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