Outdoor Air Quality Testing

Environmental Impact Assessments are a requirement of planning applications if a development exceeds a certain size and outdoor air quality must be included in the assessment.  Assessment is often still be required by the local authority even if the development is small particularly if it is located in a designated Local Air Quality Management Area.  Where the development is small the Environmental Impact Assessment may focus on the impact of the local environment to occupants of the new development rather than the impact of the development on the local environment.

Features

The outdoor air quality testing service assesses the impact of the local environment on the occupants of new buildings and re-developments and includes some or all of the following features:

» Liaison with Local Authority representatives prior to commencing work to ensure the scope of proposed Environmental Impact Assessment will be appropriate for the planning application

» A site visit to confirm of the relevant characteristics of the development including major traffic movements and routes, local pollutant sources and topography.

» Collation of information from several local or similar locations using established monitoring stations.  This would include all of the pollutants for which information is available, and are listed in the UK objectives, from the previous twelve months and may include Benzene, 1,3-Butadiene, Carbon monoxide, Lead, Nitrogen dioxide, Particulates (PM10) and Sulphur dioxide.

» In certain circumstances arrangements can be made to monitor pollutants on a continuous basis at the site over an extended period, although is typically not practical due to time and cost constraints (six months data is desirable and a minimum of three months is required).

» Collation of local meteorology factors that may affect the pollutant attributes of the site.

» Analysis of all of the relevant data regarding air quality standards and assessment using the objectives from the Air Quality Regulations 2000 and (Amendment) Regulations 2002 for Local Air Quality Management (LAQM).

» In the instance that UK objectives are exceeded, the impact of road traffic pollutants on the air quality of the actual site can be predicted, using the numerical appraisal model, DMRB (Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, 1999).

» Rule-of-thumb recommendations in relation to reducing potential exposure of occupants of the proposed development to levels of pollutants should they be discovered to exceed LAQM objectives.