Opportunities to Improve Air Quality

Vehicle emissions affect air quality.  They also add significantly to atmospheric CO2, which causes global warming.  Tackling congestion provides one of the greatest opportunities to improve air quality.  Other opportunities to reduce emissions include:

  • reducing the need to travel, through planning policies such as 'Urban Renaissance',  and increasing the number of people living in town and city centres
  • encouraging more environmentally friendly modes of travel including walking, cycling and public transport
  • promoting fuels that produce fewer emissions and vehicles that are more efficient
  • ensuring traffic can flow efficiently, e.g. by reducing stop-start conditions
  • encouraging drivers to switch off their engines when stationary

Evidence

Birmingham City Council declared the whole of the City as an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in 2003 with regard to nitrogen dioxide (NO2).  An Action Plan Steering Group consisting of council directorates, Highways Agency, private sector transport interests and environmental groups was established to review policy and identify further actions.  The Action Plan identified over forty actions to reduce NO2 levels.  Many of these actions relate to existing council policy and notably the LTP.  However, it should be noted that even if all the proposed actions were applied, it is unlikely that NO2 levels would fall below objective values.  The Council amended the AQMA to include PM10s (fine particles).  As both NO2 and PM10s are primarily attributed to traffic, any actions that target  NO2 should have a similar effect on PM10s.  The Action Plan will be the subject of on-going review and amendment.

The Air Quality Strategy outlined later in Section ‘Air Quality Strategy’ includes all these elements.

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