Air quality issues on the Welsh strategic road network

Overview

The European Directive (2008/50/EC) on ambient air quality and cleaner air sets out legal limits for a number of atmospheric pollutants including particular matter (PM), Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and the steps that must be taken to address exceedances. Within the UK, the Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) Model, updated annually by DEFRA, is designed to fulfil part of the UK's Directive requirements to report on concentrations of these pollutants and is the agreed national source for identifying areas or routes that exceed the limit levels.

In 2017, the DEFRA PCM Model identified a number of locations in Wales where levels of NO2 exceeded the Directive limit (40µg/m3). Following a High Court challenge, where Welsh Ministers accepted that they had not taken the appropriate actions to ensure that these locations became compliant in the shortest possible time, a series of investigations using the approach set out in the Welsh Transport Appraisal Guidance (WelTAG) were undertaken.

This webinar will provide an overview of the work undertaken by the Welsh Government and two  Local Authorities in the past three years to address the NO2 exceedances and the early monitoring results following implementation of the measures arising from the investigations.