The Chief Officer, Environmental and Operational Services, presented the report which advised how the air quality management service could be pared down, clarified the legal position of what the Council was required to do, air quality management projects the Council was developing and whether existing projects could be ended.  He pointed out that the budget was £58,000 and rarely fully spent as the bare minimum was already carried out, with savings made in previous three years of £97,996.

Cllr. Firth, Deputy Portfolio Holder for Finance & Resources, advised that she had looked at all the relevant legislation and EU regulations with the Chief Officer, Environmental and Operational Services, and was satisfied that the service was not undertaking any additional work than what was required other than the ‘Air Alert Scheme’.  However this was a free service which was externally funded.  She had also visited the continuous air quality monitoring station at Greatness and met one of the scientists.  Again only the minimum requirement was being monitored.

She pointed out to the Committee that for the last three years, as mentioned, a saving had been made of over half the budget.  Whilst she acknowledged that money was required in case of work arising from reviews and the three yearly updating and screening assessment, she believed that the budget should more accurately reflect the true cost and requested that the Committee consider a reduction in budget suggesting £28,000 in years one and two with £60000 in year three, which for accounting terms would be averaged out..  It was noted that savings could be discussed under the Budget item later in the agenda.

The Chairman used her discretion and allowed Mr Morrison to address the Committee.  He expressed his concern with regards to air quality in the area especially Sevenaks High Street, and felt that particulates should be monitiored due to the  health risks associated with them and that th Council should be doing more than the minimum.  He believed that the Council could at least influence what was happening in the District, for example with the proposed new Buckhurst 2 car park.

In response he was advised that particulates were monitored, particularly at the Greatness monitoring station and that it formed part of the London not Kent network.  It was also pointed out that the cost of the service did not affect the quality of the service offered.  With regards to the response to the DEFRA consultation, the SDC view was not that monitoring should not be carried out, but that it would be more appropriate for it to be carried out by the Highways Authority.  The Committee merely believed that it was not appropriate to be paying for something for which it had no control over.

The Chief Officer, Environmental and Operational Services advised that there was not a lot the Council could do to affect air quality from traffic, but the monitoring carried out did feed into the larger national picture which eventually led to improvements such as the new HGV engines and improvements to the motorway network.  Particulate matter did inform planning decisions as Environmental Health comments were sought.

Resolved:  That the report be noted.