Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 15 January 2013.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 January 2013, be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Any interests not already registered

There were no further declarations of interest.

There were no responses.

The pending action was noted.

Members will develop a schedule of work over the year to reflect the terms of reference of the Committee focussing on the Council's priorities for policy development. This includes opportunities to invite  other organisations who provide services in the District to provide information to the Committee and discuss issues of importance to the Community.

The Chairman reported that the following items had been added to the Committee’s work plan:

Planning Policy:

Green Belt Supplementary Planning Document – September 2013

Gypsies and Traveller Plan Submission Version – January 2014

Development Control:

Westerham Conservation Area Management Plan – September 2013

Weald Conservation Area Designation – October 2013

Transport (including Parking):

Annual Review of Parking Charges – October 2013

Economic Development and Tourism:

Tourism Update – May 2013

Regional Growth Fund – May 2013

Economic Development Update – September 2013

Budget:

Budget Update – October 2013

Referring to the item labelled “Gatwick”, a Member queried what this item would include.  The Head of Environmental and Operational Services reported that it was likely that this would be responding to a consultation process on Gatwick Airport but if there was no consultation the item would be withdrawn.  The Committee agreed that if the item was to go ahead Vernon King from Edenbridge should be invited to the meeting to share his knowledge with the Committee.

The Committee considered a report confirming the results of the detailed air quality Assessment report that was completed in 2012 and the outcome of the public consultation carried out in February 2013.  The report recommended that the existing Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) along the A25 were merged and replaced by one AQMA running the length of the A25 based on monitored exceedances of the nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) annual mean objective and that an additional AQMA was declared at the junction of Birchwood Road and London Road, Swanley.

The Head of Environmental and Operational Services reported that the majority of air quality monitoring was done by diffusion tubes situated along the roads.  These diffusion tubes monitored nitrogen dioxide caused by pollution from traffic.  In addition to the diffusion tubes, there was a fixed monitoring station in Greatness that fed into national air quality monitoring.

The Committee considered the health implications arising from poor air quality.  A Member suggested that it was worth considering working with health groups in order to secure additional funding for managing air quality.

A Member suggested that it would be helpful to target specific areas for monitoring with mobile equipment.  This would be able to measure specific times in any 24 hour period where air pollution was at its highest.  In response the Head of Environmental and Operational Services reported that mobile monitoring units were costly and there would be resource implications.  Another Member suggested that it could be beneficial to consider including a  Section 106 agreement on future large developments, this could enable a mobile monitoring unit to be purchased.  The Portfolio Holder for the Cleaner and Greener Environment suggested that consideration could also be given to using funding from the new Community Infrastructure Levy for this.

In response to a question surrounding the benefits of merging the existing Air Quality Management Areas, the Head of Environmental and Operational Services reported that it would be more efficient for the Council to develop and monitor one Action Plan rather than five separate action plans.

Public Sector Equality Duty

Members noted that there were no adverse equality impacts arising from the report.

Resolved: That it be recommended to Cabinet that:

a)    The existing Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) along the A25 are merged and replaced by one AQMA running the length of the A25 based on monitored exceedances of the air quality nitrogen dioxide (NO2) annual mean objective.

b)    An additional AQMA is declared at the junction of Birchwood Road and London Road, Swanley.

The geographical locations of these AQMAs are defined in Appendices A, B and C  to this report.