Air quality management areas might be revoked

Anthony Lewis, local democracy reporter

A local authority could revoke several air quality management areas because they are no longer needed.

Air quality management areas (AQMAs) are declared by the council in response to breaches of air quality objectives for nitrogen dioxide levels and currently Rhondda Cynon Taf has 16 AQMAs which are of limited size and are distributed throughout the borough.

Recent monitoring is said to show that the Aberdare town centre, Broadway, Church Village, Cilfynydd, Llanharan, Llwynypia, Mwyndy, Nantgarw, Tonyrefail and Treforest AQMAs are now all likely to be “sustainably compliant” to the annual air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide.

Reviews of each AQMA have been carried out confirming that these AQMAs are no longer necessary and may be revoked.

The council adds that although parts of the Pontypridd town centre AQMA remain potentially non-compliant, part of it has achieved sustained compliance and the AQMA can also be reduced in size to target the area which is not complying with the objective.

Non-compliant

The Cymmer, Ferndale, Mountain Ash town centre, Nightingales Bush and Tylorstown AQMAs appear likely to remain non-compliant to the annual air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide into the medium-term whilst future improvement actions take effect, the council says.

In 2023 previous monitoring at Glyncoch came to an end, coinciding with initial uncertainty over the future of Craig Yr Hesg quarry, the council said.

With permissions being granted by the Welsh minister to allow Craig Yr Hesg quarry to continue to operate, the council decided to upgrade equipment to continue monitoring local air quality within the community.

This has meant that the council was only able to undertake very limited particulate matter monitoring within Glyncoch during 2023.

However, it is expected that monitoring results at Glyncoch for particulate matter will become available in 2024 ready for analysis within the next annual air quality progress report to likely be published in 2025.

RCT Council has produced individual air quality action plans for each area which include actions which may improve air quality within them and help the council comply with the air quality objective throughout Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The council said the vast majority of Rhondda Cynon Taf had compliant air quality and was likely to remain so into the future.

Small areas

It said only some small areas associated with busy urban road junctions, the regional road network or specific local sources were likely to be vulnerable to non-compliant air quality.

It is believed these vulnerable areas, linked to historically high levels of nitrogen dioxide, have already been declared air quality management areas (AQMAs) and that the air quality in these areas may not improve as quickly as elsewhere over the long-term.

The council has started a public consultation, running until May 1, into the analysis and recommendations of the 2024 air quality progress report which contains assessment of recent monitoring data for nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter collected during 2024.