Environmental protection

Air quality

Air Quality Strategy 2007Defra works to control and manage air quality across the UK. The UK Government and the devolved administrations published the latest Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 17 July 2007 - setting out a way forward for work and planning on air quality issues and the air quality standards and objectives to be achieved; introducing new policy framework for tackling fine particles and identifying potential new national policy measures which modelling indicates could give further health benefits and move closer towards meeting the Strategy’s objectives.

Latest

3 June 2009: Addendum to Guidelines for Halogens and Hydrogen Halides in Ambient Air (PDF 637 KB)
Guidelines for Metals and Metalloids in Ambient Air for the Protection of Human Health (PDF 2.1 MB)

29 April 2009: The UK Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (UK PRTR) web pages are now available. These web pages will hold pollutant release data from a wide range of industrial installations across the UK, including refineries, power stations and less polluting activities that are regulated by local authorities. The UK PRTR will continue to see updates to data as more information becomes available. This may mean amendments to data as a verification exercise is still ongoing.

24 April 2009: UK Notification to the European Commission to secure additional time to meet the limit values for particulate matter for certain zones/agglomerations in accordance with the Council Directive 2008/50/EC on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe.

3 March 2009: Publication of the Air Quality Expert Group’s report Ozone in the United Kingdom (PDF 3.5 MB)

19 February 2009: Local Air Quality Management Guidance now available

27 January 2009: Consultation on the draft UK notification to the European Commission to secure additional time to meet the limit values for particulate matter for certain zones/agglomerations in accordance with the Council Directive 2008/50/EC on Ambient Air Quality and Cleaner Air for Europe.

See also

  • National Air Quality Information Archive - provides up-to-date information on air quality. Find out what air pollution is like near you and for a forecast of what it will be like over the next 24 hours. Also see the national archive of air quality information and reports giving detailed air quality monitoring data and statistics.
  • National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory - giving estimates of emissions to the atmosphere from UK sources such as cars, trucks, power stations and industrial plants.
  • Ozone monitoring and science (on Air Quality Archive website)

Page last modified: 29 April 2009

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs