Air Quality Action Plan 2025-2030

Please complete our survey to give your views on the 2025-2030 Air Quality Action plan for Dacorum.

This will outline the planned implemented strategies for reducing air pollution across the borough, particularly in the two declared Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) of London Rd Apsley and Lawn Lane, Hemel Hempstead.

This Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) has been produced as part of our statutory duties required by the Local Air Quality Management framework. It outlines the actions we will take to improve air quality in Dacorum from 2025 to 2030.

This action plan has been drafter across the last year and replaces the previous action plan which ran from 2019-2024. Projects delivered through the past action plan include:

• Standardised planning conditions implemented relating to air quality considerations, low NOx boilers, EV charging infrastructure and bans on waste burning.
• Revocation of Northchurch AQMA (AQMA 3) in April 2023, following 5 years of levels below the UK health limits reducing year on year.
• A feasibility study for the implementation of a Clean Air Zone was carried out.
• A countywide Private Hire and Taxi Vehicle Emissions Policy has now been implemented and adopted.
• An additional 104 charging points have been provided across 18 car parks. Dacorum have become the district with the highest number of EV charge points throughout Hertfordshire and Dacorum have also moved into the top 20 per cent nationally.

Air pollution is associated with a number of adverse health impacts. It is recognised as a contributing factor in the onset of heart disease and cancer. Additionally, air pollution particularly affects the most vulnerable in society: children and older people, and those with heart and lung conditions. There is also often a strong correlation with equalities issues, because areas with poor air quality are also often the less affluent areas^[1],[2].

The annual health cost to society of the impacts of particulate matter alone in the UK is estimated to be around £16 billion^[3]. Dacorum Borough Council (DBC) is committed to reducing the exposure of people in Dacorum to poor air quality in order to improve health.

We have developed actions that can be considered under six broad topics:

• Policy guidance and development control
• Promoting low emission transport and travel alternatives
• Public information and education
• Transport planning and infrastructure
• Traffic management
• Monitoring of particulate emissions, including solid fuel burning, canal boats and waterways.

Our priorities are to influence continued improvements in AQMAs in order to consider revocation, maintaining links with key stakeholders and engagement with internal and external partners to continue to develop projects and campaigns to improve local air quality. Finally, consideration for expansion of the current Smoke Control Area in Hemel Hempstead to incorporate additional targeted areas borough-wide including waterways.

In this AQAP we outline how we plan to effectively tackle air quality issues within our control. However, we recognise that there are a large number of air quality policy areas that are outside of our influence (such as vehicle emissions standards agreed in Europe), but for which we may have useful evidence, and so we will continue to work with regional and central government on policies and issues beyond DBC’s direct influence.

Scope of the Review & User Survey

1. To consult with local residents, road users including, commuters, public transport users, those on the 'school run', pedestrians,
2. To undertake an engagement conversation, as well as direct observation with residents and users of the service, to seek their views on what their concerns are in regards to local air quality.
3. Undertake awareness assessments to better understand gaps in local knowledge of air quality including health impacts, pollution sources and methods of control.
4. Identify future delivery ideas and options for the AQAP, areas of concern for Local Air Quality and what may require revision in the current version.

The Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) and latest Annual Status Report (ASR) are attached. If you live, work, operate a business or visit Dacorum, please fill out our survey, we’d love to hear your feedback, positive, constructive, or critical, this will help shape the way in which we monitor and manage local air quality. The survey runs for 28 days from Tuesday 20th May until Tuesday 17 June 2025.