Air Quality Action Plan
The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is a very special place. Even so, there are some improvements we need to make, including better air quality. It will be no surprise to you that most of the air pollution in the Borough comes from road traffic.
The map with the ‘hot spot stars’ in Appendix 2 shows the areas that most require our action. Although the stars identify certain areas, in practice the best way to improve them will usually be through Borough wide initiatives. The end objective of the action plan is to remove every ‘star’ off the map by 2005.
The action plan work will involve many different departments of the Council and will involve the active co-operation of other Boroughs and Agencies. A summary of the action proposed is listed in the Table at Appendix 1.
Air Quality Management Area (AQMA)
On 31st December 2000, following a review and assessment of air quality, the Council declared the whole Borough as a single Air Quality Management Area (AQMA)
(pdf, 200KB) for NO2 and PM10. This decision was taken because some areas were predicted to exceed the annual average NO2 and PM10 air quality objectives. The Council was then legally obliged to write an 'air quality action plan' within 18 months of designation.