Defra: ‘Our pollution monitoring is stricter than Halton council’s’

AN official has said a massive gap between the supposed levels of pollution in Halton, as reported by the local authority, and government figures could be due to differences in how strict their air quality monitoring procedures are.

The Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesman commented after Halton Borough Council challenged Defra to reveal how it had derived its figures.

He said Defra uses ‘strict’ European Union and national criteria and that most local authority pollution measuring schemes do not meet EU legislation.

A national air quality strategy published by the department in July said Halton is forecast to have nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels of 59 micrograms of NO2 per cubic metre (μg/ m3) during 2017, and due to remain over the 40 μg/m3 limit until 2023.

The borough had also initially been included in a list of pollution blackspots but Defra has now removed it after Halton Borough Council challenged its inclusion.

Defra has now said that no air quality action needs to be taken in Halton because the Mersey Gateway bridge will reduce congestion and traffic fumes.

The spokesman said no-one had raised any concerns about Halton Council’s pollution data.

He said: “Defra uses the Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) model for the air quality plan, which is a national model to provide results for the whole of the UK, rather than local hotspots.

“The PCM model can, therefore, sometimes provide different results to the local monitoring regime.

“National monitoring follows strict siting criteria and quality assurance procedures which are set out in the EC Air Quality Directive and subject to rigorous procedures of validation and ratification.

“The majority of local authority monitoring stations are not part of Defra’s monitoring network as they do not meet the standards of the European legislation.”