Air quality monitoring case study: Cardiff

After a day in court, at which the Welsh Government admitted to failings in air quality management, Cardiff Council are now taking steps to clear the air

In 2017 the environmental law organisation ClientEarth took legal action against the Welsh and UK Governments over illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide. Both governments steeled themselves for a fight but to the surprise of almost everyone present, barrister for the Welsh Government, Jonathan Moffett QC got things underway by conceding.

The Welsh Government had chosen their moment in the High Court to admit that their lack of a plan for tackling illegal levels of air pollution in the country was unlawful. Jonathan Moffett went on to say said ministers would work with ClientEarth to agree a legally-binding ‘consent order’.

Outside the court, ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said: “Welsh ministers have admitted in court that their inaction on air pollution was unlawful. It’s incredibly disappointing that we had to drag them to court to get them to admit this and to commit to action to stop people in Wales having to breathe dirty air. People across Wales have been breathing illegal levels of air pollution for years and we hope the Welsh Government will waste no time now in committing to strong and decisive action to cleaning it up.”

At this point Cardiff had already declared four Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) across the authority due to exceedances of the annual mean nitrogen dioxide Air Quality Standard (40 μg/m3), known to be caused by road transport.

As they were duty bound to do, the council had produced Air Quality Action Plans (AQAP) for each area but in their 2019 Air Quality Feasibility Study Outline Business Case they conceded that the plans had not been successful:

“The main issue with this particular approach is that the AQAP focuses on introducing local measures to individual road links and areas, which only targets at improving air quality within the identified AQMA itself.

Whilst such measures have been successful in improving air quality within the individual AQMA such localised measures have led to an adverse impacts on air quality in surrounding areas and result in more widespread air quality issues.”

Furthermore, the initial study identified that by 2021, the central thoroughfare, Castle Street, would be in breach of the EU Directive with some other roads being areas of concern.

The council issued a statement: “Air pollution on Castle Street is a symptom of a wider problem which extends far beyond this stretch of road. We have to improve the emissions of the fleet of vehicles using the road network, decrease the number of cars that drive through the city centre, and increase the use of sustainable travel alternatives such as cycling and walking.”

The most recent Outline Business Case concluded that a package of non-charging measures is the preferred option when compared with a charging Clean Air Zone, on the basis that the non-charging measures would deliver wider air quality benefits across all of Cardiff when compared directly to the results of the charging Clean Air Zones.

Furthermore, government guidance is clear that where pollution limits can be met by non-charging solutions that these should be the preferred option over any charging scheme.

The following proposed measures are currently concept designs at this stage and look to tackle the problem of air pollution in the city centre. An outline bid for funding has been made to the Welsh Government for the schemes and these will be refined, following public consultation and cabinet approval.

• Implementation of electric buses to replace the oldest and most polluting buses – costing £1.8m

• Introduction of a Bus Retrofitting Scheme for bus operators in Cardiff to upgrade older buses so they meet Euro VI engine emission standards –costing £1.4m

• Review and implement a revised taxi policy to ensure that all applications to grant a ‘new vehicle license’ or for a ‘change of a vehicle on a current license’ are only approved for vehicles that meet the latest Euro 6 emission standards – costing £5.5m.

Active travel is also being promoted with major changes planned to both Castle Street and Westgate Street and the city centre loop to allow for better and more efficient movement of public transport and increasing active travel capacity in the city centre.

The council plans to improve walking and cycle routes across the city over the next three years and the Nextbike public cycle hire scheme and has been hugely successful with 6,000 people registered users making more than10,000 journeys per week .

Last year the council were collecting diffusion tube data from over 100 sites across the city which included monitoring outside a number of schools. There was also automated monitoring equipment at four locations

“People across Wales have been breathing illegal levels of air pollution for years and we hope the Welsh Government will waste no time now in committing to strong and decisive action to cleaning it up.” across the city and a further seven new real time monitoring stations were added at the end of the year.

Adopting a risk-based approach, the council agreed to place an additional 47 indicative real-time air quality monitors across the city, with the location focusing on known areas of concern and where more vulnerable citizens may be exposed, including schools and health centres and they turned to Neathbased Vortex to supply their Welshmanufactured VTX Air monitors.

The new network of VTX Air monitors across the city, and wider Cardiff area is providing accurate and hyperlocal data on a range of pollutants to support local air quality improvement projects and promote a greater public awareness of the harmful impacts of air pollution.

Using the Vortex portal and a customised application programming interface (API), the council can become more self-aware of activities that cause levels to rise and identify the pollution blind spots to plan future air projects while validating the success of current interventions.

Nick Ruxton-Boyle, Vortex IOT Director of Environment said: “By having a real focus on the air quality status quo outside schools and with traffic being an obvious problem around school streets, the council will now be able to measure the impact of idling vehicles during these peak times.”

Cllr Dan De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport at Cardiff Council added: “The latest study into air pollution in Cardiff shows that residents enjoyed cleaner air across the city throughout 2021 when compared with pre-pandemic figures in 2019. Although this data is encouraging, there is more work to do. We need to continue to reduce the levels of pollutants.

If we want people to be healthier, we have to encourage people to be less reliant on their cars, and to make the shift to public transport, cycling or walking. Not only will it benefit people’s health but will help the city reduce our carbon imprint as we look to combat climate change.

“Along with emissions from industry, vehicle emissions, especially from diesel vehicles are the highestcontributing factor to poor air quality in cities across the UK. By enhancing our monitoring network with these new monitors, we will better understand the air quality in Cardiff which will allow us to react quickly to any pollution concerns and ensure appropriate measures are put in place to reduce air pollution and improve the air that our residents breathe.”