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As part of the council’s Round 2 Review and Assessment, an initial Updating and Screening Assessment (USA), in 2003, identified one location, at the start of Alcester Road, Studley, where the annual mean Nitrogen Dioxide objective might not be met. A Detailed Assessment produced in November 2004 concluded that the UK objectives for annual average and hourly mean nitrogen dioxide would not be exceeded in 2005 at any location within central Studley. It was therefore recommended that the council should not declare an AQMA in Studley. The results of this Assessment were accepted by DEFRA, providing further monitoring was carried out in Studley to clarify the situation.
An Addendum to the Detailed Assessment was therefore submitted to DEFRA in November 2005, presenting data from a number of monitoring sites in the village, including some from an automatic real-time monitor. These data confirmed that exceedances of the annual mean Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) objective were likely, and that an AQMA would therefore be required in Studley after all.
The Studley AQMA was declared on the 23rd February 2006, for exceedances of the NO2 annual mean objective, and it encompasses the properties numbered 1 and 9 to 31 Alcester Road, and their associated land, as shown on the plan available from the links below.
Following declaration of the AQMA, the Council, in partnership with Warwickshire County Council (WCC) as the Local Transport Authority and assisted by outside consultants, set about producing the Further Assessment needed to confirm the previous findings and to prepare for the Action Planning process that had to follow. This Further Assessment was carried out in late 2006 – early 2007 and confirmed that there was a risk of an exceedance of the NO2 objective, due primarily to road traffic emissions and to HGV emissions in particular. It also modelled the effect of a few potential remedial measures to test their efficacy.
The aim of the Plan is to find the most cost effective ways of improving air quality and to encourage active public participation by consulting the local community and raising awareness of air pollution issues.
A Draft Action Plan for Studley is currently being considered by the Council and anyone who wants to influence the process can use the public consultation questionnaire that can be downloaded from the link below.
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