Air quality

Consultation

Information about air quality in solihull

12 Consultation

The Air Quality Management 3rd State Review and Assessment Draft Report was sent to all statutory consultees during December 2000. Responses were requested by 15th February 2001. The following gives a summary of the responses received (not necessarily in entirety or verbatim) and our replies to them. Where the main body of the report has been changed as a result of a response this is indicated.

12.1

Surprised but gratified to learn that air quality in Solihull is increasing. Can you confirm that this is despite:

• Increases in overall traffic movements in and around Solihull
• Increases in air and road traffic at, to and from the airport who maintain that their traffic increases by 10% annually
• The only measurement of air quality in Solihull is at the airport.

Summary of response dated 17th January 2001
The West Midlands Emission Inventory used was based on 1993 modelling data which was updated using a new set of rad and traffic data obtained from the West Midlands Joint Data Team. The estimation of traffic-related emissions was made through the application of speed-related emission factors. The modelling software used was INDIC Airviro which is licensed by the Swedish Meteorological Office. The model is a complete air quality management system which includes the following functional blocks:

• emission surveying and modelling
• dispersion modelling
• monitoring data collection, analysis and presentation

All the modelling was carried out on one computer based at Birmingham City Council's offices. Further information was provided on the data input to the model, validation exercises and future predictions.
Section on Modelling added to Section 2 on page 13

Despite increases in road traffic, air quality in Solihull is likely to improve and to meet the government objectives which have been set for the future. There are many reasons for this, including advances in vehicle engine technology, a steady increase in the proportion of newer, less polluting vehicles, more stringent controls on HGV diesel engine emissions, the inclusion of emissions testing on the MoT test, the encouragement of Green Travel plans, planning controls on new developments and contractual preferred routes for traffic taking materials to development sites, as well as the Council's commitment to the Local Transport Plan.

Birmingham International Airport has recently produced an atmospheric emissions inventory. The information from this report is being considered by the West Midlands Joint Pollution Group.

The Airport has a monitoring station that has been gathering data since 1995. Solihull MBC has a mobile air quality monitoring station that has been in operation since 27th April 2000. Since that time it has been located at urban background sites. In order to obtain valid results and to take account of annual measurement criteria, the unit is left at each site for a minimum period of six months. The results from this station have been comparable with those from the Airport. It is proposed that the unit will be moved to critical roadside locations within the Borough in the future.
Section on Birmingham International Airport added to Section 2 on page 19
Information added on data collected from Solihull MBC's mobile air quality monitoring station on pages 36-37 (nitrogen dioxide), 49-50 (particulates) and 57-59 (sulphur dioxide)

In addition to the above continuous automatic monitoring, a year long survey of nitrogen dioxide levels at various roadside locations around the borough using diffusion tubes will be starting shortly. All monitoring results will be fed back to the West Midlands Joint Pollution Group for further refinement of the modelled data.
Section 7.7 added on page 40 showing the results of the diffusion tube monitoring of NO₂ throughout the borough.

12.2

Re oxides of nitrogen: The forecast for 2005 shows a reduction in the town centre maximum hourly levels for nitrous oxide. I wonder if the modelling for traffic flows has taken into account the effect of the changes in traffic flow that may arise from the completion of Touchwood Court?

Summary of response dated 1st February 2001
The precise impact of Touchwood in 2005 is difficult to predict, as much depends on the commercial success of the development, public transport initiatives in place at that time, and the public uptake of those schemes. We are confident that in respect of this particular Review and Assessment, the model has predicted levels well, given the information entered.

Although traffic flows and data entered into the model have been verified with and checked against historical traffic counts, there is a need to carry out roadside monitoring of air quality, particularly oxides of nitrogen, to provide robust information on existing levels of air quality along crucial routes, including those around the Touchwood development. This authority, along with others in the West Midlands, has started a detailed borough-wide nitrogen dioxide survey. This will run for the next 12 months and is likely to provide crucial data for the model for the next Review and Assessment, due to be completed in 2003.

It is planned to locate the Council's mobile air quality monitoring station (which measures oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and particulates) close to the Touchwood Court development after it has opened. This should give valuable data to compare with the current position.

12.3

You show levels of pollutants recorded at Birmingham International Airport in your figures 5.2, 7.2, 7.3 etc. but you make no specific reference to aircraft emissions in your report.

I understand that the Touchwood Court development will be open for business in September 2001 and I should like to know what specific steps you are taking to monitor what increase (if any) will be caused by the perceived increase of delivery lorries, employee's cars, etc.

Summary of response dated 16th March 2001
The monitoring data from the Airport included in the draft report is from their ambient air quality monitoring station which is located on the airfield. In effect this measures pollutants arising from any sources in the vicinity, subject to weather conditions, so inevitably pollutants arising from aircraft as they taxi, take-off and land will make up a proportion of the levels of pollutants recorded. The Airport also commissioned an emissions inventory in 2000. Unfortunately due to time constraints this information was not included in the initial modelling exercise. We are looking into how best to use the information from this inventory.

Section on Birmingham International Airport added to Section 2 on page 19

The response regarding Touchwood Court followed that above, sent on 1st February 2001.

12.4

I would mention two factors which do not appear to have been considered:

1. the effect of large (Part A) processes outside of, but near to the border of the borough, and;

2. the effect of Part B processes acting as point sources, where they are located close to roads with AADF (Annual Average Daily Flow) greater than the respective threshold for each pollutant

Summary of response dated 16th March 2001
On the question of Part A processes outside of, but close to, our border, I can confirm that the model used included an area stretching to 1km outside all borders. We are currently checking the information we have for all Part A and Part B processes including those in neighbouring authorities that might have an effect on our air quality.

With respect to the effect of Part B processes acting as point sources where they are located close to roads with AADF greater than the respective threshold for each pollutant, the model overlays all the different categories of data, e.g. windspeed, topography, traffic data, information from industrial processes, and is then run to find out the results of all these acting together. Therefore the results obtained should have adequately addressed your query.
Section on Modelling included in Section 2 on page 13

12.5

I note on page 11 of the draft report it is stated that the BNRR (Birmingham Northern Relief Road) is expected to reduce the volume of traffic on the M6. I believe that this was initially expected to be the case, however recent research has shown that predicted traffic levels on the M6 are expected to remain unchanged.

Also pages 11, 12 and 13 discuss authorised processes. Have transboundary effects from neighbouring authorities' authorised processes been taken into account?

Summary of response sent on 16th March 2001
The Transportation Department of Solihull MBC states that the BNRR ought to reduce traffic volumes on the M6. However this accounts only for about one third of the total, and not all would want to pay the toll. There are two other effects. Firstly the resultant 'spare' road capacity is likely to be utilised by local and other traffic which currently avoids the M6 at certain times. Secondly people will make new, longer or additional journeys using the M6 merely because they perceive that delays would be less. But, because of these possibilities various ideas are being looked into to prevent the M6 becoming as bad as it is now. Overall, this means that the immediate impact of the BNRR will be less traffic on the M6. If nothing else is done it will get worse again over subsequent years but the HGV percentage is likely to be less than now in any event. I can confirm that in the modelling done for the Third Stage Review and Assessment, an increase in traffic on all roads of 14% was assumed.

Regarding transboundary effects from neighbouring authorities' authorised processes, the modelling took account of an area stretching 1km outside this authority's borders. We will be checking into Part A and Part B processes outside this area.

12.6

On page 11 average daily traffic was calculated by multiplying peak hourly flows by a factor of 12. Please explain this.

On page 18 I think that the presentation is potentially misleading in that there are more petrol stations in Solihull than shown on the map. The title is clear in that it states authorised petrol stations, but the legend states petrol stations. I assume that you only list the LAPC authorised stations. Do we have a policy for petrol stations that sell less than a million litres? Use litres rather than metres³ because the public can relate to that amount more easily.

I am concerned about the PM₁₀ issue and I think that it will require close monitoring. The concern is that it is still a young issue and more information will appear in the future.

Summary of response dated 16th March 2001
Average daily traffic was calculated by multiplying peak hourly flows by a factor of 12. The annual average daily traffic flow is calculated from the peak-hour traffic volume. The government's technical guidance states that local practitioners are best-placed to derive conversion factors. An expert working for the West Midlands Joint Pollution Group who carried out the modelling for all the West Midlands Authorities has derived the factor of 12 which has been tested and is considered to be appropriate for A-roads in this area.
Explanation included under Road Sources in Section 2 on page 11

We will attempt to correct the legend on the map to read "Authorised Petrol Stations in Solihull" and add litres to the units quoted. The government has set the standard for the size of petrol stations that must be authorised. In addition there is a rolling programme to include smaller stations in the authorisation process in time. Petrol stations are included in the air quality strategy as sources of benzene. Results indicate that there is no problem in relation to benzene so we are not unduly worried about smaller filling stations at this time.
Amendment made under Petrol Stations Authorised under LAPC in Section 2 on page 13, and on Map 5 on page 18

We have been monitoring particulates with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 micrometres since April 2000 at our mobile monitoring station. The station was initially located at Coppice Junior School off Damson Lane, and was moved to its current location at Marston Green Infants' School in October last year. We are hoping to move it to the north of the borough soon. The current and last locations represent urban background situations, it is hoped that future locations will be closer to roadsides. The data collected so far shows that higher levels of particulates occur around bonfire night, or when there are prolonged periods of stable weather conditions with very little or no wind, typically when high pressure weather systems remain in the area for several days. This is consistent across the West Midlands area. The only exceedence of the air quality objective in Solihull to date was around bonfire night in 2000.
Information added on particulates data collected from Solihull MBC's mobile air quality monitoring station on pages 49-50

12.7

A response was also received from the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR), whose contractors raised various points as set out below.

For nitrogen dioxide no evidence is provided to show that:

there are no likely exceedances of the 1-hour objective downwind of industrial processes</p>

Table 12.1 below gives a summary of the Part B authorised industrial processes within this authority's area. The paint shop at Land Rover Ltd gives rise to approximately 5 tonnes of NO_x per annum. Taking account of all the relevant data that we hold relating to this process, and according to the nomogram in TG4(00) (Technical Guidance Note on specific pollutants), we consider that these emissions would not exceed the pertinent threshold. Solihull Crematorium are unable to provide figures in tonnes per annum for emissions as this process operates intermittently. However, taking account of stack and building dimensions and using the nomogram in TG4(00), we are confident that this process will not give rise to emissions likely to lead to exceedances. Whilst we have no information for emissions from Jones Plant Hire & Excavation, RS Jay Motor Bodies or AS Textron, we do not consider that these processes would give rise to emissions likely to lead to exceedances.

We have reviewed our information on the Part A prescribed process operated by LandRover. There are four boilerhouses on site which emitted a total of 30.3 tonnes of NO_x in 2000. After taking account of the proportional size of each boilerhouse and the chimney and building dimensions, we can confirm that according to the nomograms in TG4(00) this process is not likely to give rise to exceedances of the air quality objectives.

All the relevant data concerning Part A and Part B processes were included in the emissions databases which were used in the modelling runs.

Table 12.1: Industrial Processes

Please note that 2 of the above processes (Lafarge and Whale Tankers) are not yet authorised and so are not indicated on Map 4 on page 17 of the consultation report

concentrations near to roads are not likely to be above the objective

It is unclear which objective is not supported by evidence. We have no previous data on NO₂ concentrations close to roads, so to remedy this we have begun a diffusion tube survey along the busiest roads in the borough from February this year. Therefore reliable information on NO₂ concentrations close to roads should be available in the next 12-18 months. The West Midlands Group has several good eight-year sets of diffusion tube data on which predictions have been based. These indicate that NO₂ annual averages alongside most roads are likely to be close to but will not necessarily exceed the standards.
Section 7.7 added on page 40 showing the results of the diffusion tube monitoring of NO₂ throughout the borough.

consideration has been given to the airport

We regret that our Stage 3 Report did not adequately address air quality issues in relation to Birmingham International Airport and thank you for drawing our attention to this. Since 1994 the Airport have commissioned a biennial NO₂ diffusion tube survey which is carried out over 13 weeks during the summer period. The survey is designed to investigate the spatial effects of pollutants arising from the Airport site, and has shown that the main ground level effect of emissions from the Airport occurs at the Airport itself, and primarily on the main access roads within the Airport. Diffusion tube monitoring sites are located at the airfield, in Solihull MBC's area and in Birmingham CC's area. Results indicate that NO₂ from the airfield is dispersed and does not show an effect further afield, therefore we are not concerned about the effect of Airport NO₂ emissions on sensitive receptors living nearby. During 2000 the survey was conducted between 26th July and 18th October. The Airport sites had the greatest range of results and the greatest variation in results. The highest NO₂ levels were recorded in the south-eastern corner of the airfield.

The Airport has produced a GIS referenced emissions inventory for the site based on the year 1997. This was delivered as our review and assessment process was underway and therefore these data were not included in our modelling. We will of course take the results from the emissions inventory fully into account during our next review and assessment.

I can confirm that the public road network around the Airport has been included in the modelling for the assessment, as were data on emissions from aviation which were included in the West Midlands Emission Inventory.
Section on Birmingham International Airport added to Section 2 on page 19

For PM₁₀ no evidence is provided to show that:

there are no likely exceedances of the 24-hour objective downwind of industrial processes

Table 12.1 above gives a summary of Part B industrial processes. As stated above, Solihull Crematorium are unable to provide figures in tonnes per annum for emissions as this process operates intermittently. However, taking account of stack and building dimensions and using the nomogram in TG4(00), we are confident that this process will not give rise to emissions likely to lead to exceedances of PM₁₀.

consideration has been given to all uncontrolled and fugitive sources

TG4(00) suggests possible uncontrolled and fugitive sources of PM₁₀. No potential sources of this nature exist within Solihull.

concentrations near to roads are not likely to be above the objective

We have no data yet for roadside PM₁₀ concentrations but are planning to move our mobile air quality station to a roadside location within the next few months. Other West Midlands authorities have carried out monitoring close to busy roads and their results indicated little likelihood of a breach of the objective.

For sulphur dioxide no evidence is provided to show that:

concentrations near to industrial processes and solid-fuel or fuel-oil combustion plant >5MWt have been considered

Data on SO₂ emissions were included in the West Midlands Emission Inventory. An investigation was carried out into combustion plant in the borough and none in excess of 5MWt was found. All significant combustion sources identified were either Part B or in the LRC inventory. Table 1 above gives a summary of Part B industrial processes, of which Solihull Crematorium is the only potential source. We have limited information on emissions from this process as it is intermittent. However on consideration of all the information held we do not envisage a problem occurring as a result of this process. The Part A authorised process at LandRover emitted 0.87 tonnes of SO₂ during 2000 which is below the threshold level at which air quality exceedances must be considered according to the nomogram in TG4(00).

The Stage 1 Appraisal Report suggested that explicit consideration be given to the airport. This is not done in the Stage 2/3 Report. It is also not clear from the model results whether emissions from Birmingham Airport have been included, as there is no evidence of any elevation of nitrogen dioxide at the airport.

Please see the response above under the section on nitrogen dioxide.

No details are provided as to the location of the monitoring site at Birmingham Airport.

The monitoring site at Birmingham Airport is situated on the airfield, just to the east of the point where the two runways cross.
Section on Birmingham International Airport added to Section 2 on page 19

Monitoring data for nitrogen dioxide are presented for only one location in Solihull. Mention is made in the Technical Report of use of a mobile monitoring station, but no results are provided. No information is provided on concentrations at the roadside.

We have data from a mobile air quality monitoring station which has been in operation since May 2000. (Summaries of the data obtained were supplied.) Both the sites used so far have been in the urban background category. As yet we have no roadside data, although we plan to locate the station within 5m of a main road in the near future. As mentioned above we are also currently carrying out an NO₂ diffusion tube survey at roadside locations in the borough.
Information added on data collected from Solihull MBC's mobile air quality monitoring station on pages 36-37 (nitrogen dioxide), 49-50 (particulates) and 57-59 (sulphur dioxide). Section 7.7 added showing the results of the diffusion tube monitoring of NO₂ throughout the borough.

The modelling only provides concentrations over a 250x250m grid. Thus concentration near to roads and downwind of point sources are not explicitly modelled.

The grid resolution used has identified hotspots and modelled levels in the hotspots are all below the objectives set for the pollutants in the Air Quality Strategy. We intend to model at a finer resolution in the future.

The model has not been validated for roadside locations.

There is a lack of validation of the model for roadside locations. More data is now being gathered which will enable a full validation to be carried out in the next review and assessment. However taking account of historic data from other West Midlands authorities and predictions using nationally accepted emissions factors, we have confidence in our conclusions on this point.
Section 7.7 added showing the results of the diffusion tube monitoring of NO₂ throughout the borough.

The air quality objective line in Figure 9.2 is slightly too high (minor point).

This error has now been amended.