Defra and the devolved administrations provide support for local authorities and practitioners to meet these requirements including the operation of a helpdesk, tools for air quality modelling and monitoring and provide information in these pages about Review and Assessment and Action Planning.

• Guidance
• LAQM support
• Helpdesk
• FAQs
• Review and assessment
• Action planning

Local authorities in the UK have statutory duties for managing local air quality under Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 and in Northern Ireland, Part III of the Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002.

They are required to carry out regular reviews and assessments of air quality in their area against standards and objectives prescribed in regulations for the purpose of local air quality management (LAQM) before undertaking Action Planning if air quality is found to breach the regulations.

The following regulations apply:

• England: The Air Quality (England) Regulations 2000 (SI 928), The Air Quality (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 (SI 3043),
• Scotland: The Air Quality (Scotland) Regulations 2000 (Scottish SI 2000 No 97), The Air Quality (Scotland) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 (Scottish SI 2002 No 297),
• Wales: Air Quality (Wales) Regulations 2000, No 1940 (Wales 138), Air Quality (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2002, No 3182 (Wales 298),
• Northern Ireland: Air Quality Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003, Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland 2003, no. 342.

You can find further information about these regulations by searching legislation.gov.uk.

Review of local air quality management

In 2009 Defra and the devolved administrations commissioned a review to assess the operation of local air quality management in the UK and to make recommendations with a view to:

• Improving air quality outcomes
• Making better use of available LAQM resources

The report below details the findings and subsequent recommendations of the In-House Policy Consultancy (IHPC) report into Local Air Quality Management (LAQM).

• Review of Local Air Quality Management – A report to Defra and the devolved administrations (PDF 850 KB)