§ Mr. Win GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list for each local authority the sampling sites for air pollution measurement, indicating at which sites the European Union guide levels have been exceeded; and what action has been recommended as a result. [38883]
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe Government air quality monitoring sites in Wales are as follows:
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Local authority Site name Cardiff Cardiff Centre Cardiff East Ceredigion Cwmystwyth Flintshire Shotton Gwynedd Waunfawr Neath Port Talbot Cwmgwrach Glyn Neath Port Talbot Newport Marshfield Newport
Local authority Site name Pembrokeshire Cresselly Powys Aston Hill Welshpool Swansea Swansea Centre Torfaen Pontypool Wrexham Wrexham There are currently four European directives on air quality which set mandatory and non-mandatory limits for lead, sulphur dioxide and suspended particles, nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels in the air. The only exceedences of the relevant thresholds at Government sites in Wales in the last three years for which figures are available were as follows:
Limit Site Number of exceedences (days) 1992 1993 1994 Daily basis: Ozone information threshold Aston Hill 3 1 1 Cardiff Centre 2 — 1 Annual basis: Guide value for SO2 Cwmgwrach Exc. — — Glyn Neath Exc. Exc. Exc. Port Talbot Exc. — — Guide value for suspended particles Wrexham — Exc. — Exc. = Exceeded the guide values, based on the average daily readings taken over the year. Further information is available in the "Environment Digest for Wales" and the report "Air Pollution in the UK 1994", copies of which are in the Library of the House.
The Government will shortly be publishing a consultation draft of the national air quality strategy as required by the Environment Act 1995. It will include air quality standards and objectives and set out the measures required to meet those objectives.
The Environment Act 1995 also introduces a duty on local authorities to assess and review air quality in their areas, and to establish local air quality management areas where standards or objectives are being or likely to be breached. In such areas authorities must draw up action plans to help bring ambient pollution down to acceptable levels. The Government are currently developing guidance for local authorities sot help them discharge those duties.