AQW 16132/17-22

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 10/03/2021
Answered On Date: 22/03/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for his assessment of air quality in Northern Ireland, broken down by constituency.

Answer:

The management of air quality in Northern Ireland is based on the requirements of European Union (EU) Air Quality Directives, and on the 2007 UK Air Quality Strategy. These requirements are incorporated (or ‘transposed’) into Northern Ireland’s own legislation by statutory measures, forming the basis of a strong framework for managing air quality.

District councils have a statutory duty to appropriately monitor, assess and to take action on air pollution under Part III of The Environment Order (NI) 2002.

The Local Air Quality Management (LAQM) system has been established for councils to fulfil their statutory duties under the Order and assess compliance with objectives in the UK Air Quality Strategy. At locations where objectives are not expected to be met by the relevant target date, district councils are required to declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) and to develop an Action Plan to address the problem. The Department provides funding to councils under the LAQM grant scheme to carry out monitoring and associated air quality duties.

My Department’s air quality report contains a full analysis of pollutant levels, across all monitoring stations in local council districts and is available at: https://www.airqualityni.co.uk/documents/technical-reports/0369%20DAERA%20Air%20Pollution%20Report%202019-Issue2-print-optimised.pdf

Current, real-time pollution levels are available from each district council via our website at: https://www.airqualityni.co.uk/