Air quality management areas

What is an air quality management area?

Under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995, local authorities are required to review current and predicted future air quality in their areas against certain national air quality objectives. Where air quality objectives are not likely to be achieved, the local authority must designate an air quality management area (AQMA) for the pollutant concerned and develop an action plan which sets out how it will work towards achieving the air quality objectives.

Where are the AQMAs in Salford?

In Salford, the current AQMA was defined in 2016 and covers areas close to major roads, motorways and Manchester city centre. It has been declared for potential exceedances of the annual mean NO2 air quality objective.

The national air quality objective for NO2 is an annual mean concentration of 40 micrograms per cubic metre of air (ug/m3). The AQMA in Greater Manchester has been declared on a precautionary basis (using an annual mean concentration of 35 ug/m3) to try to take into account uncertainties in the computer dispersion modelling from which it was produced. The extent of the AQMA has reduced significantly since it was last declared in 2005.

An online and interactive map is available to view the locations of the AQMA in Salford. The AQMA in Salford is part of the Greater Manchester AQMA.

Across the UK, over 250 UK local authorities have declared AQMAs. The vast majority of these are for potential exceedances of the annual mean NO2 air quality objective, as a result of emissions from road traffic sources. AQMA maps and information for local authority areas across the UK can be viewed on the central government UK AIR website.

Further information

An air quality action plan is in place setting measures to improve air quality in Salford and across Greater Manchester. As road transport the main source of air pollutants, many of the actions are focused on reducing road transport emissions.

More information and copies of air quality review and assessment reports can be found on our air quality review and assessments in Salford page.

Downloadable documents

If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.

This page was last updated on 9 April 2019

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