Local air quality management
Local air quality management is a statutory process which places a legal duty on all local authorities to regularly review both the current and future air quality within their areas. These annual air quality reviews must follow Government guidance that sets health based objectives, which are based on what is considered acceptable given the known effects.
Over the last 3-5 years, monitoring data highlighted that in 11 of the Council’s Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA), the concentration of nitrogen dioxide had declined significantly and is now consistently below the national air quality objective. This improvement in air quality around the borough is positive and one the Council will continue working on. Reasons for lower concentrations are due to a number of factors but the most significant are:
- improved traffic flow,
- stricter vehicle emission standards, and
- an increase in the number of low emission vehicles on the road.
The Congleton Link Road has considerably impacted the Congleton AQMAs, removing through traffic from the town centre, improving both traffic flow and air quality.
Following confirmation from Defra, the Council has revoked 11 AQMAs around the borough due to the concentration of nitrogen dioxide being consistently below the national air quality objective. The Revocation Orders came into force on the 01 January 2025.
The Council will continue to monitor nitrogen dioxide at worst-case locations in all of the revoked areas, to confirm that the concentration remains compliant with the national objective and to gauge improvements in local air quality over time.
Air Quality Action Plan
The development of an Air Quality Action Plan is a statutory requirement once an AQMA has been declared. From the 01 January 2025, Cheshire East has one remaining AQMA , which has been declared based on levels of nitrogen dioxide due to emissions from vehicles. The Action Plan must detail the measures which the Council proposes to take in improving air quality in the AQMA . Our current Action Plan can be found below:
Air Quality Strategy
There is now a statutory requirement for all local authorities to have an Air Quality Strategy (AQS). The aim of the AQS is to support the achievement of how the council will undertake its air quality responsibilities and how it will work both across internal departments and other relevant external partners. This is important to ensure that air quality is considered as part of all relevant decisions and policies across the council.
Low Emission Strategy
Cheshire East has developed a Low Emission Strategy (LES) to ensure that current emissions are reduced as far as possible and emissions associated with new development are minimised. The LES will provide a package of measures selected on the basis of research and current best practice in emissions management.
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Page last reviewed: 20 December 2024
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