Air Quality Action Plan consultation programme 2003

The timetable of the work is shown below:

• 15th August - Inception meeting
• 12th September - Theme & issue planning meeting
• 22nd September - St George's Primary School visit
• 7th October - Long Meadow Primary School visit
• 22nd October - Harlescott Primary School visit
• 8th November - Bayston Hill consultation event
  
• 11th November - Shrewsbury town centre consultation event

The relatively stronger attendance at the Bayston Hill event suggests that the declaration of an Air Quality Management Area may be a more live issue here than for Shrewsbury residents as a whole. However, it is difficult to make a comparison as Bayston Hill was a Saturday event and Shrewsbury a weekday. It may be worth holding any future consultation on Saturdays to maximise attendance.

The poor attendance at the town centre event in particular was disappointing.   It indicates that further consultation, if undertaken, would need a more comprehensive awareness raising exercise. Due to overall low numbers, and the profile of participants, the consultation to date cannot be considered truly comprehensive, although it has been able to provide useful indications for the Council.

The popularity of the Bayston Hill bypass option, in Bayston Hill, at least, sends a clear message from residents. Whilst presenting the local authority with a challenge for the future, the results from this consultation provide a first level of evidence for any steps towards implementing the option.

Options to increase use of alternative fuels received varying levels of agreement, but the main message emerging was that participants wanted more alternative fuel outlets available to them. This can be seen a positive sign of people's interest in taking action themselves.

The support for encouraging walking and cycling has probably more potential than the options so far mentioned for application in the short-term. The feedback from the participating school-children suggests that these options are also favoured by them, although there wasn't enough work done with them to test this in reality!

There are some potential actions for the local authority and businesses emerging, in terms of changing their practices at an organisational level.

This consultation is just one step in the work towards producing Action Plans for the Air Quality Management Areas. However, it has contributed useful information to the process and has contributed to raising awareness about air quality in Shrewsbury. A very positive element of the two events was giving residents the opportunity to talk directly and on a one-to-one basis with  SABC's Environmental Health Department.

As expected from the start, the information gathered is really only an indication of the public's opinions. This is because only small numbers of Shrewsbury's population became involved and because the structure of the consultation was such that their input could only be at a broad level. Further work to implement AQMA Action Plans would benefit from more detailed consultation, using methods specifically designed to draw out more in-depth responses. 

Dave Spode
Principal Environmental Health Officer
01743 281363
dave.spode@shrewsbury.gov.uk