First Round of Air Quality Review and Assessment 1999-2003

Herefordshire Council undertook its “first round review and assessment” of the County's air quality as part of the Government's National Air Quality Strategy between 1999 and 2002. This was carried out in 4 stages, in accordance with the then statutory guidance and published as four consecutive air quality reports.

In order to keep the quality of the air under review and determine long term trends, nitrogen dioxide has been monitored at about 50 sites since 2000. Nitrogen oxides and particulate matter (PM10) have also being monitored on a continual (hourly) basis at the Edgar Street Roundabout monitoring station in Hereford’s city centre.

The first round review and assessment’s stage 3 report released in March 2001 recommended that an air quality management area should be designated in Hereford City because of the likely exceeding of the nitrogen dioxide annual mean of 40ug/m3 (21 ppb) in the year 2005 along the A49 corridor. After full public consultation, the "Hereford City Air Quality Management area (Nitrogen Dioxide) Order 2001" was designated in Hereford City on 1st November 2001.

The Council later released its stage 4 report in November 2002 which validated the work so far done and confirmed that there was still a need for an air quality management area. Copies of the stage 1, 2, 3 and 4 reports are available for public viewing in libraries throughout the County. Alternatively all these reports as well as the Air Quality Management area and Order can be found in the document box below.

The data for nitrogen dioxide and other pollution from 2000 to 2003 can also be found in the document box below.