Policy information sourced from Brentwood Local Plan

NE08: Air Quality

Development is required to meet national air quality standards and identify opportunities to improve air quality or mitigate local exceedances and impacts to acceptable legal and safe levels. Development proposals must demonstrate that they will not:

  • Compromise the achievement of compliance targets within Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs);
  • Create new exceedance areas; and
  • Create unacceptable risk of high levels of exposure to poor air quality, particularly where development is near to, or promotes land uses to be used by those particularly vulnerable to poor air quality (such as children and older adults).

Development proposals should be designed to minimise exposure to existing poor air quality and make appropriate provisions to improve local air quality conditions through design solutions and measures to the outdoor and indoor environment. Particular attention should be given to the positioning, layout and design of proposals for new build developments and community infrastructure (indoor and outdoor) that are likely to be used by large volumes of people on a daily basis, especially by vulnerable groups. Community infrastructure should, where possible incorporate appropriate buffer zones to prevent or minimise exposure to air pollution sources.

An Air Quality Impact Assessment is required as part of any planning application for:

  1. major developments;
  2. employment led developments;
  3. developments which will require substantial earthworks or demolition;
  4. developments which include community infrastructure including leisure, education and health facilities or open space (including child play space);
  5. new build developments in areas along busy or congested road and rail lines where residents will be exposed to poor air quality;
  6. developments which propose the use of Combined Heat and Power, biomass boilers or similar solutions that might impact air quality; and
  7. new developments within AQMAs.

Development proposals should have regard to their individual and cumulative impacts on air quality. Proposals that do not meet the requirements of (1) and (2) above will be resisted unless appropriate measures are implemented to ensure adverse impacts can be mitigated to an acceptable level. Mitigation should be provided onsite unless it can be demonstrated that it is inappropriate and that off-site provision will deliver equivalent or wider benefits.

For more information please see the Local Plan