Portsmouth City Borough Council Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change Meeting

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interests.

Richard Lee, Regulatory Services Manager introduced the report and in response to questions explained that

It is hoped that the monitoring station would be installed by the end of this financial year.  One lane may be closed a couple of hours or half a day.  His team will liaise with the Traffic Department in order to minimize any inconvenience.

The cost of manufacturing and analytics is approximately £15 per diffusion tube plus officer time.

A map showing all the tubes is on the council's website. 

If there are immediate concerns can consider deploying more tubes.

The first year maintenance of the monitoring station is covered by the manufacturer's warranty.  The council has a contract for the other four monitoring stations.  The cost depends on the age of the equipment, what is being analysed and what problems may be encountered.  It is likely to be approximately £15,000 per year.

Councillor Robert New welcomed the new monitoring station and noted that the costs seemed reasonable.

Councillor Dave Ashmore noted that:

·         It is important to emphasise that low cost does not mean as cheap as possible.  The more monitoring equipment that is installed, the better data can be obtained.

·         The locations of the monitoring equipment and air quality data are on the council's website.

·         This report deals with the monitoring station which is being installed in preparation for the Clean Air Zone and it is not the clean air strategy.  

·         The council is taking many actions to improve air quality including better cycle routes, electric vehicle charging and looking into a new location for the bus depot so that the buses could become electric.

DECISIONS

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change approved:

1.    The installation of an additional continuous air quality monitoring station and the continued deployment of diffusion tubes as set out within sections 4 through to 8;

2.    The use of alternative 'low-cost' monitoring devices as necessary as set out in Section 6.