Issue - meetings

Question from Mr Tom Hayes to Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Leader of the Council

See Annex 1 for details.

Question from Mr Tom Hayes to Councillor Ian Hudspeth, Leader of the Council

Air pollution has gone up in parts of Oxford and the problem is likely to get worse before it gets better, contributing to hundreds of avoidable deaths every year. Public Health England report that 5.3% of deaths in the county are attributable to particulate air pollution. 

Everybody visiting, living, and working in St Clement’s is breathing air that is getting worse, possibly causing them to get very ill. St Clement’s is the most polluted part of the city and latest figures show its air quality getting worse, in large part because of emissions from local transportation.

Oxford City Council monitors air quality because it has a statutory duty to review local air quality.  The results are used to assess air pollution in relation to guidelines and objectives that are set by the European Union and the UK Government. That same Government is calling on local councils like my own to draw up action plans for tackling poor air quality. However, the council which controls the roads and how they are used in the city is this one. My council has to engage with yours on all measures to improve air quality in Oxford.

Can you tell me what five specific steps this county council is taking as local transport authority to clean the air that St Clement’s breathes every day, and the total sum of money being spent this municipal year? In choosing your five steps, I would welcome you picking those which you believe are leading to the largest and quickest impacts on air quality. 

Thank you in advance for answering this question in detail.”

Councillor Hudspeth answered as follows:

Based on 2016 monitoring undertaken by the City Council, NO₂ levels across Oxford have dropped by 35% in the last ten years. Monitoring also confirms that air quality in St Clement’s has improved albeit it is recognised that levels here are now above other areas and what are considered to be more acceptable values.

Air pollution is clearly an important factor to people’s health and the Public Health England Indicator is useful in highlighting this issue and enabling us to keep it under surveillance. The report quoted is from 2014 and later figures are available for 2015 which show the estimate for Oxfordshire is now 4.7%, however the indicator is based on a model and it is widely accepted that the actual figure could vary widely from these estimates.

Long-term exposure to air pollution contributes a small amount to the deaths of a large number of individuals rather than being solely responsible for deaths as demonstrated below:

Overall, monitoring trends in the city are very encouraging and confirm that air quality in Oxford is getting better; a reflection of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 138