Updated: List of AQ grant recipients added.
A package of funding worth more than £260 million has today been launched by the government to help improve air quality in some of the most polluted areas.
The UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations was produced by the government in July 2017, and outlined that councils with the worst levels of air pollution at busy road junctions and hotspots must take robust action in the shortest time possible.
Fulfilling a commitment to support local authorities to deliver these plans, the government has today launched a £220 million Clean Air Fund to minimise the impact of local plans on individuals and businesses. A range of options local authorities could consider to utilise this money such as new park and ride services, freight consolidation centres, concessionary travel schemes and improvements to bus fleets have been set out.
At the same time, more than £40 million from the £255 million Implementation Fund has been awarded to support local authorities take action as soon as possible to improve air quality.
This includes:
- £11.7 million to the 28 local authorities with the biggest air quality challenges to help carry out the work needed to develop air quality plans, including securing resource and expertise
- £24.5 million to the same 28 local areas to support a range of measures to take action locally. Examples include installing electric charge point hubs in car parks; junction improvements; bus priority measures; building cycle routes; incentivising ultra-low emission taxis through licensing schemes and leasing electric vehicles; and traffic management and monitoring systems
- £2.4 million from the 2017/18 Air Quality Grant for local community projects to tackle air quality at a grass roots level. This comes in addition to £3.7 million already awarded in last year’s Air Quality Grant, which included an award winning project taken forward by Westminster City Council to provide advice and toolkits for small and medium businesses to reduce transport emissions from deliveries associated with their operations
- £1.65 million to support the 33 local authorities that have been asked to conduct targeted feasibility studies to identify measures that could bring forward compliance dates within the shortest possible time
Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said:
We have been clear that local leaders are best placed to develop innovative plans that rapidly meet the needs of their communities. Today’s funding demonstrates the government’s commitment to support the local momentum needed and continue to improve our air now and for future generations.
Improving air quality is about more than just tackling emissions from transport, so later this year we will publish a comprehensive Clean Air Strategy. This will set out how we will address all forms of air pollution, delivering cleaner air for the whole country.
Today’s announcement is part of a £3.5billion plan to improve air quality and reduce harmful emissions.
Air Quality Grant
We’ve published more details on the Air Quality Grant. Successful projects for 2017/18 are listed below:
| Local authority | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (with Doncaster) | ECO-STARS bus and taxi fleet | £125,000 |
| Blaby District Council | Schools and SMEs behavioural change and action plan | £59,000 |
| Bradford Metropolitan District Council | Air quality feasibility study | £195,000 |
| Canterbury City Council | Awareness campaign in schools and community on transport and domestic burning stoves | £33,354 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | Local research on domestic burning stoves and health impacts | £44,000 |
| City of York Council (with Lancaster, Mid Devon) | Local authority officer knowledge sharing online platform | £216,008 |
| East Sussex County Council (with West Sussex, Brighton, Chichester, Horsham, Adur, Crawley, Mid Sussex, Worthing, Lewes) | Action plan for schools and businesses in AQMAs | £105,900 |
| Kirklees (Bradford, Calderdale, Wakefield) | Domestic and commercial awareness campaign and action plan | £106,292 |
| London Borough of Tower Hamlets | Community action plan and business engagement on emissions from industry and transport | £107,864 |
| Oxford City Council | Electric vehicle charging points, electric fleet, technical study | £192,500 |
| Portsmouth City Council | Communications package and cycling infrastructure | £450,000 |
| Reading Borough Council | Electric vehicle charging points in residential areas | £100,000 |
| Spelthorne Borough Council (Surrey Air Alliance) | Awareness campaign in schools across the county. | £145,188 |
| St Helens Council (with Liverpool City Region, Liverpool, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral) | Air quality website for Liverpool residents | £74,000 |
| Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent (with Tamworth, Lichfield, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Cannock Chase, Newcastle-under-Lyme and The Moorlands) | Council partnership action plan, public and business engagement, business and school travel plans with annual monitoring, electric vehicle charging point and a clean air campaign. | £208,000 |
| Westminster City Council ((Cross River Partnership) with Lambeth, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Lewisham) | Working with businesses across 5 boroughs to help reduce their emissions | £232,850 |
| Total | £2,394,956 |
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