Air quality is key to the health of humans and ecosystems. The Environment Act (1995) requires borough and district councils to identify Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) where current or future air quality is unlikely to meet national air quality objectives, and to develop Air Quality Action Plans to tackle poor air quality in these areas.
The county council's Air Quality Strategy has been superseded by the new Local Transport Plan 4 which replaces the older Low Emissions Transport Strategy.
Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) in Surrey
There are 26 AQMAs in Surrey, and the main source of the pollutants in these areas is road traffic. These are listed together with their pollutants below.
Elmbridge
- Walton High Street (Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2))
- Esher High Street (NO2)
- Weybridge High Street (NO2)
- Hinchley Wood (NO2)
- Walton Road, Molesey (NO2)
- Hampton Court (NO2)
Epsom and Ewell
- Ewell High Street (NO2)
Guildford
- Guildford Town Centre (NO2)
- The Street, Compton (NO2)
- A281 The Street, Shalford (NO2)
Reigate and Banstead
- A217 near Blackhorse Lane (NO2)
- A2022 / 240 Drift Bridge (NO2)
- A23 Redhill Town Centre (NO2)
- A23 Merstham High Street (NO2)
- A23 Hooley (NO2)
- M25, Reigate and Banstead (NO2)
- A217 Reigate Hill (NO2)
- Reigate High Street / West Street (NO2)
- Horley (near Gatwick) (NO2)
Runnymede
- Addlestone Town Centre (NO2)
- M25 Runnymede (NO2)
Spelthorne
- Spelthorne (NO2)
Surrey Heath
- Camberley (NO2 and Particulate Matter (PM10))
Waverley
- Godalming (NO2)
- Farnham (NO2)
Woking
- A320 Guildford Road, Woking (NO2)
The County Council, as the highways authority for the county road network, has a statutory duty to work to bring forward proposals in these declared areas to help improve air quality.
Local Transport Plan 4
One of the objectives of the Local Transport Plan is to create thriving communities with clean air, excellent health, wellbeing and quality of life. A number of policy areas included in the plan will contribute to lower emissions and therefore improved air quality:
- planning for place (through shorter journeys),
- digital connectivity (through reduced journeys),
- active travel/personal mobility (through shifting local car trips to walking and cycling),
- public and shared transport (through shifting local car trips to public and shared transport),
- demand management for cars (through de-incentivising car trips, and encouraging a shift to other, cleaner modes),
- demand management for goods vehicles (through incentivising more efficient and cleaner freight movements locally),
- efficient network management (through reducing congestion and idling),
- promoting zero emission vehicles (through increasing the uptake of EVs and hydrogen and electric buses, and
- supporting behaviour change (through encouraging a shift from private petrol/diesel vehicles to more sustainable modes).
Monitoring air quality
Monitoring air quality in the local area is carried out by the relevant district or borough council. Select from the links below to find out more about air quality in each district and borough.