Air Quality and Highways Improvements

Cheshire East Council – Disley Air Quality Monitoring Report.

Cheshire East Council Air Quality Awareness webpage

Cheshire East Council has launched an Air Quality Awareness webpage with information on air quality and pollution and ideas to help reduce the impact of pollution for individuals.  The webpage is available at:

Air Quality Awareness

A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road Monitoring and Evaluation Report

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council published an A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road Monitoring and Evaluation: Year One Traffic Flows and Journey Time Report on 24th July 2020.  The full report is available at: A6/MARR One Year Report

Disley Parish Council is currently reviewing this report and will publish its feedback shortly.

Presentation by Cheshire East Environmental Health Officer on 31st October 2019

Cheshire East Council Environmental Health Officers gave a presentation to Disley Parish Councillors and interested residents recently. This is available to view at: Disley Air Quality Presentation.

Cheshire East Council Air Quality Action Plan 2018-2023

Cheshire East Council has published an Air Quality Action Plan for the period 2018-2023 which is available to download.  There is also a hardcopy of the Plan available at Disley Library.

Cheshire East Council monthly air quality data

The latest Cheshire East monthly air quality data for Disley is available to view at Cheshire East Air Quality Data.  The Disley tubes are CE16, CE19, CE82, CE277 and CE284.  Click on the map to download the month by month data for each tube.

Cheshire East Council Environmental Health monitoring data – 2013-18

Note: The 2018 data this still needs to have the national bias adjustment factor included, which normally comes out in March and can lead to a slight change in the reading.  With regards to monitoring for particulates, Cheshire East currently have no plans to install any equipment as there is nothing suitable for the purposes but will continue to check the market.

Table 1 – Data from the continuous monitor data. 

Table 2: Results from the tubes

A6/MARR Monitoring and Evaluation Baseline Report 

The A6/MARR Project Team at Stockport Council have added the Monitoring and Evaluation Baseline Report to the SEMMMS website. This is available to view HERE.

All enquiries relating to this report should be directed to the A6/MARR Project Team on 0161 474 2055 or by email to: mailto:SEMMMS.Relief.Road@stockport.gov.uk

Disley Parish Council Statement of Intent on Air Quality in Disley & Newtown – Updated 11th February 2019 

Background Information

The Environment Act 1995 introduced a duty on local authorities to assess and manage air quality within their area. These requirements were supported by policy and technical guidance and a set of detailed timescales by which specified actions should be achieved. In this locality this statutory responsibility lies with Cheshire East Council (CEC) as the principal authority.

In 2010, Cheshire East Council, in applying these duties declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) along the A6 corridor in the centre of Disley. This covers a narrow ribbon area along the A6 running from the Market Street/Buxton Old Road crossroads in the West, to the Junction with Redhouse Lane in the East. A map of the Disley AQMA area can be viewed HERE.

The Disley AQMA was declared based on the exceedance of the annual mean for nitrogen dioxide which is 40µg/m³ .

Following the declaration of an Air Quality Management Area, Section 84 (2) of the Environment Act 1995 requires that a Local Authority draw up an Action Plan to identify the methods by which it intends to address air quality issues. CEC produced an action plan in 2011 and it is presently being reviewed to take account of new AQMAs across the borough.

A meeting of Cheshire Easts’ Environment and Scrutiny Committee on 21^st January 2019 included a statement on its’ forward plan:

 “A draft Action Plan has been produced including all AQMA’s which will bring performance to 100%.  This is currently moving through the approval process and will be finalised by the end of the financial year, subject to approval by Defra. Subject to any changes being required, we anticipate being able to report 100% as our Q4 outturn”

More information on air quality monitoring both locally and nationally can be found at:

Cheshire East Council Air Quality

DEFRA Air Information Resource

Why has an AQMA been declared?

Disley is a very popular and well-liked village conveniently located on the edge of the Peak District and Greater Manchester. The A6, a main transport corridor going through the centre of the village, is a very busy commuter route for people travelling by car into Greater Manchester and a busy route from Greater Manchester for visitor to the Peak District. It is also a busy main route for Heavy Goods Vehicles. The topography of the village centre with houses and shops close to the road gives a canyon effect trapping low level pollutants from vehicles causing pollution levels to accumulate.

The impact of the new Manchester Airport Relief Road (MARR) from Hazel Grove through to Manchester Airport, due to open in late summer 2018, with projected increase in traffic on the A6 is now an additional concern for air quality levels in the village which will require close monitoring.

The Disley AQMA is one of 18 AQMA’s declared across the Cheshire East area. A chart showing a comparison of levels with other sites from 2013-2016 can be viewed HERE.

Over 500 AQMAs have been declared by local authorities nationally. The Greater Manchester Authorities, including Stockport have an AQMA in place covering the main arterial routes, including the A6 up to the Greater Manchester boundary. This AQMA includes an area around Manchester City Centre.  Air quality levels from traffic pollution in city centres are significantly higher than many of the smaller areas declared at local level such as Disley and present even bigger challenges.

Improving air quality from vehicle emissions is a challenge for the future, both at national and local level, right down to individual choices. The problem demands a wide range of actions through national and local transport plans, use of cleaner vehicles, shift from car use to other means of transport and cleaner movement of goods. Whilst improvements in technology and a move to hybrid and electric vehicles are set to have a long-term benefit, the need for short and medium-term air quality mitigation measures at local level cannot be ignored.

What the Parish Council has done so far:

• Since the declaration of the AQMA in 2010 the Parish Council has sought regular updates and improved information from Cheshire East Council on the AQMA monitoring. There are 17 other AQMA’s declared within   Cheshire East and Disley is the only one with the benefit of a real time air monitoring analyser located in the village centre giving real time monitoring information.
• A Disley Village Strategy was produced in 2012 setting out transport objectives and policies to help inform future actions for reducing the negative impacts arising from the A6 Main Road. This strategy can be viewed HERE.
• The Parish Council secured a planning condition on the approval for the MARR to apply mitigation measures on the A6 to address the projected increases in traffic before the MARR becomes operational. A Parish Council planning sub-committee was established involving co-opted members from the community to identify objectives to inform this process and to work with Cheshire East Council. Stage One of these mitigation measures are now in place. Disley Parish Council and Cheshire East Council are currently in on-going discussions in relation to Stage Two mitigation measures for the village Centre. The effect of these measures in addressing the projected increase in traffic on the A6 will need scrutiny and may influence the need for longer term mitigation solutions.
• The Parish Council is an active member of the High Peak and Hope Valley Community Rail Partnership working to secure improvements to rail transport and Disley station, through the Friends of Disley Station Group, to attract a shift to rail travel along the A6 corridor. Increases in the number of trains stopping at Disley Station were secured by Northern in 2018.
• Working alongside the community, a Disley and Newtown Neighbourhood Plan has been produced involving extensive local consultation with the community and informs future decisions on planning in the village up to 2030. The Neighbourhood Plan was formally adopted in 2018. Responding to the many concerns in the consultation relating to the A6 and air quality, a specific air quality policy is included in the Plan. Further details of the Neighbourhood Plan and a full copy of the approved plan can be viewed on the Disley Parish Council website HERE.
• Working with the community the Parish Council has promoted both cycling and walking in the village through a bi-annual Cycle Festival and national Walkers are Welcome award initiative.

What the Parish Council intends to do:

• Continue working with Cheshire East Council and the local community in developing a new Air Quality Action Plan for Disley.
• Work with Cheshire East Council and neighbouring authorities to improve public transport and reduce reliance on car usage on the A6 corridor.
• Through the local MP, lobby central government for solutions on improving air quality from all traffic pollution and through Cheshire East Council review the impact of national air quality strategies and local transport plans.
• Work with the local community, the local school and businesses to promote good practice helping to improve air quality.
• Continue working with the community to promote cycling, walking and other good practice to improve air quality and health and well-being generally.
• Continue working with Cheshire East Council to undertake regular reviews of the air quality in Disley and to lobby for continual traffic monitoring to assess the impact of the A555/MARR on the A6 through Disley and Newtown.
• Provide links on the Parish Council website to up-to-date information on air quality at both national and local levels and promote local good practice identified through action planning in newsletters and e-Bulletins.

Review

This statement of intent will be used as a working document to inform future opportunities for the Parish Council to help improve air quality along the A6 corridor in the village and will be kept under review and updated with additional information as it is received.

Dated: 11th February 2019