Revocation of Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in Little Madeley

An AQMA was declared on 15 January 2015 due to exceedances of the air quality objective for annual mean nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the Little Madeley area. This AQMA was declared to comply with the requirements placed upon the Council by virtue of Part IV of the Environment Act 1995. The location of this AQMA can be found online on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) website.

Air Quality in this location is heavily influenced by traffic using the M6 motorway which runs within 20 metres of the nearest relevant receptor at Collingwood, 3 Newcastle Road. The associated Air Quality Action Plan for this AQMA takes account of traffic on the nearby M6 being the major contributor to NO2 emissions in this location and sought to assess, bring about improvements and compliance in conjunction with Highways England, (Formerly the Highways Agency).

The NO2 concentrations at this location dropped dramatically in 2016 and have been greater than 20% below the UK NO2 annual mean objective for the past six full calendar years and continue to exhibit a downward trajectory.

Given that this location has been compliant for the past six years and in accordance with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) guidance and advice to the Council, it is now recommended to revoke this AQMA. A number of other local authorities have undergone the process of revoking an AQMA within their authority. Exceedances of relevant AQO no longer predicted in the Little Madeley AQMA, therefore it can be UK AQMA removed maps.

You can read more about the AQMA revocation by downloading the draft report.

Consultation

This consultation closed at midday on 3 August 2023.

What is the next step?

Feedback from the consultation will be considered and put to the Licensing and Public Protection Committee for approval 5 September 2023.

We will then seek DEFRA`s comment on the final plan at the end September 2023. A Revocation Order will be issued and made available on our website in due course.