Welcome to the Information Page for Sefton's Clean Air Plan!
Why is Air Quality Important?
The health and wellbeing of our residents is our main priority and air pollution is a growing public health concern. Air pollution is linked with many serious health conditions and can lead to people dying earlier. Air pollution affects the most vulnerable in society: children and older people, and those with heart and lung conditions. There is also often a strong link with social equality issues – this is true within Sefton, where the poorest air quality is within the less wealthy areas in the south of the Borough.
What are we doing about Air Quality in Sefton?
Like many Local Authorities some local areas in Sefton have poor air quality. A Gas called Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) produced by road traffic is the pollutant currently exceeding legal levels in Sefton. The government has asked many local councils to take action to address poor air quality in the shortest time possible. Although Sefton is not one of these councils – due to the health impacts and inequalities within Sefton, we are looking at different ways of improving air quality as much as we can for now and for future generations!
The Council has already carried out a wide range of successful actions to help improve air quality. However, there are still challenges ahead to reduce the levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) in some areas. In 2018, the Council worked with Environmental Consultants AECOM to carry out an early study to see if a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Sefton could reduce traffic-related pollution.
The study concluded that a Clean Air Zone that targets Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs), would be the best way of reducing Nitrogen Dioxide in the areas where traffic pollution is high.
Having considered this study, in 2020, Sefton Council’s Cabinet approved the development of a Clean Air Plan Outline Business Case (CAP OBC), to set out future air quality recommendations for Sefton, as part of the Council’s overall Clean Air Plan Strategy.
The Outline Business Case (OBC) for the Clean Air Plan is now complete.
What happens next?
These pages will provide information on the results of the study and next steps for the Clean Air Plan and will look at whether to create a Charging HGV Clean Air Zone in Sefton.
The next stage of the Clean Air Plan strategy is currently being discussed by Sefton Council’s Cabinet. A copy of the report being presented to Cabinet can be found here: Cabinet Report
Further information will also be available once the next stages are confirmed.
Details about how you can get involved in any upcoming public engagement and consultation will be available once Cabinet has determined next steps.
Please stay tuned for more details.
Find out more...
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Introducing Sefton's Clean Air Plan Strategy
The Clean Air Plan Strategy looks at the local area and the air quality to help develop actions to tackle poor air quality. In line with government requirements, we carry out detailed air quality monitoring at different locations across the Borough to find out the levels of pollutants that can harm the quality of the air and people’s health. The locations where air quality has been identified as a current concern are called Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) – these are areas...
Closed 1 March 2024
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Potential Clean Air Zone
Despite significant effort to improve local air quality, the actions carried out so far have not been enough to address all identified air quality issues within Sefton. Because of this, i n 2020 , with the help of Environmental Consultants AECOM, the Council began the development of a detailed Clean Air Plan Project. An Outline Business Case (a detailed study into air quality) has been developed for the Clean Air Plan, to see if different ideas to improve air...
Closed 1 March 2024