Air Quality Mitigation Statement: Scope of Service

What is an Air Quality Mitigation Statement?

An Air Quality Mitigation Statement qualitatively assesses the air quality impact to future site users and/or local receptors and whether any mitigation measures could be required.

Why is an Air Quality Mitigation Statement needed for this site?

The Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) and Environmental Protection UK (EPUK) planning guidance contains criteria that sets out when a detailed Air Quality Assessment is needed or can be scoped out. The criteria is most commonly associated with emissions from traffic and point sources such as flue stacks (i.e. CHP boilers).

Traffic Emissions

The criteria relating to traffic emissions considers a change of:

HDV flows of:

• More than 25 annual average daily traffic (AADT) flows within, or adjacent to an AQMA; or
• More than 100 AADT elsewhere.

LDV flows of:

• More than 100 AADT within or adjacent to an AQMA; or
• More than 500 AADT elsewhere.

As the proposed development will be less than or is assumed to be less than the above criteia, the less stringent criteria is considered appropriate and so a full impact assessment of road source emissions can be scoped out, requiring only an Air Quality Mitigation Statement.

Point Source Emissions

The proposed development has either been confirmed as not having or is not expected to use combined heat and power (CHP) or biomass with associated flue stacks.

Any gas fired plant will at worse be ultra-low NOx. Therefore, a detailed assessment of point source emissions can be scoped out requiring only an Air Quality Mitigation Statement.

Scope of Works

To ensure we provide you with a compliant assessment, your Air Quality Mitigation Statement will be carried out in accordance with local planning policy, best practice and planning guidance including the Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) and Environmental Protection UK (EPUK) planning guidance.

Our Air Quality Mitigation Statements are prepared by experienced consultants who are committed to providing you with technically robust reports that are tailored to meet your needs.

The scope of your Air Quality Mitigation Statement will:

• Review of local air quality in context of the development proposals including consultation with the Environmental Health Officer (if required), if the aforementioned planning criteria could fall into the need for a detailed impact assessment.

• Review and consideration of relevant legislation and national, regional, and local planning policies associated with the site, its proposed end-use and location.

• Determine baseline conditions using monitored air quality data from the local council, pollutant concentrations from the Defra background maps and *London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (LAEI).

• Assess the suitability of the site once the proposed development and any new sensitive receptor(s) have been introduced.

• Carry out a qualitative risk assessment of construction phase impacts in accordance with the latest IAQM guidance.

• Undertake an air quality neutral assessment for building and transport emissions, in line with Greater London Authority guidance*

• Preparation of a report ready for submission to the local planning authority to support your planning application.

The report will assign risk ratings to receptors and give actionable recommendations depending on the nature of the potential contamination source, pathway and sensitivity of the receptor (i.e. proposed residential housing).

*Applicable to Air Quality Assessments undertaken within Greater London.

Information we need from you

We would need to have the following items covered before we can get started on the Air Quality Mitigation Statement:

• Clear red line boundary plan and full postal address (or nearby).
• Final version of all proposed development layout, plans and elevation drawings, showing any external areas and ground floor uses.
• A schedule of accommodation clearing showing total area usage for each planning class.
• Contact details of the Transport Consultant and any traffic data/transport assessment (this may be dependent on the site end-use and building type).
• Number of car parking spaces/bays.

Additional information which would be very helpful, but may not be essential for an Air Quality Mitigation Statement:

• Noise Assessment reports and recommended mitigation measures (click here if you need a Noise Assessment).
• Any existing environmental and sustainability reports.
• Any known or proposed air quality mitigation measures expected to be incorporated in the building (i.e. MVHR), electric charging spaces etc.

How long does an Air Quality Mitigation Statement take to prepare?

We will aim to provide a report within three weeks of having all the information we need from you. It is important that we have all the information listed above before we can start the statement.

If our timescales are dependent on the availability of information from other third party stakeholders and advisors, please ensure you have allowed for this extra time in your programme.

Our Promise

Our consultants are available to guide you through the complex process of undertaking a Phase 1 Desk Study, so you can get your site approved and built.

We are chartered and incorporated members of professional institutions and CHAS; a SSIP approved Health and Safety scheme.

We are ready to get started.

Posted by Matt Dean on 03/11/2021