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The lead contact for the project is John Newington, Senior Pollution Control Officer in Maidstone Borough Council's Pollution Control Team. The Project Team consists of the Pollution Control Section of Environmental Health at Maidstone Borough Council.

The delivery team will include all members of the Air Quality and Transport Steering Group which includes representatives from:

Maidstone Borough Council (MBC) Senior Management;

MBC Cabinet Member for the Environment;

MBC Spatial Planning;

MBC Climate Change Officer;

MBC Economic Development;

Kent County Council  Highways and Transportation;

Kent County Council Transport Planners;

Kent County Council Sustainable Transport Team;

Highways Agency;

Kent County Council Public Health Department.

The delivery team, select external witnesses and commercial stakeholders not represented in the steering committee will be essential in the delivery of the Inception and Scoping Phase of the work. Details can be found in section 3.

Introduction:

The urban area of Maidstone was declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in 2010 following the confirmation of five areas that exceeded the annual NO2 mean. In the 2011 Annual Progress Report a further site (within the AQMA) was confirmed through monitoring bringing the total to 6 hotposts.

Despite emission reduction efforts, NO2 concentrations remain above the EU Limit Value in many parts of the borough. To address this, the Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) outlines a range of measures that will be investigated. Work is already being undertaken to quantify the included measures to show what air quality benefits could be realised.

The Council has been proactive in the Local Authority Low Emission Partnership and is working closely with MBC Spatial Planning and KCC Highways and Transportation teams in developing the Local Development Framework (LDF) and supporting  Integrated Transport Strategy and Car Parking Strategy, as these are the means through which it is possible that some funding  may be sought from the Local Transport Plan 3 (LTP3) and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

Aims and Objectives of Project:

The aim of this project is to provide an evidence base for local decision makers. It will build on the above work and focus more specifically on the potential of low emission schemes and low emission zones in the most polluted hotspots in Maidstone. It is envisaged that the key areas of focus  will be in addressing bus/taxi emissions in the High Street as well as the general volume of traffic: particularly HGVs on the A229 primary route that runs north to south through the middle of the town. Measures to be considered could include the introduction of electric vehicles, car share schemes, travel planning, HGV re-routing and the control of buses. These are all feasible in Maidstone but the impact of their introduction on emissions requires quantifying, along with the health impacts and cost and benefits in monetary terms. The Inception (WP1)and Scoping phases (WP2) of the project  will be used to define what potential schemes could be implemented  (given the vast number and scope of different types of low emission zones and low emission schemes).

The project would then look in more quantitative detail at air quality and cost benefit analyses (WP3) and make comparisons of the identified low emission zones/schemes to assess which would be more or less effective, or potentially be complementary, to other transport measures within the LDF and Integrated Transport Strategy (Measure 1 of the Maidstone Air Quality Action Plan). Such robust evidence based on local data is necessary to decide on the most cost effective options to move forward into the realms of policy setting. Data availability to support such policy setting and to overcome local economic barriers is limited at the local authority level and as such this project may be of interest to our neighbouring authorities in Kent.

The outcomes of this project directly delivers against Measure 1 of the AQAP which seeks to investigate the feasibility of low emission zones and schemes in Maidstone. It will also provide a robust evidence base to assist policy makers and decision makers. It is hoped that this project can be used to support the developing Integrated Transport Strategy (in development for the Core Strategy(CS)) on its route towards adoption in the Spring 2013.

Risks to Project:

The main risk to this project revolves around the exclusion of relevant stakeholders and insufficiant scoping of the project. This would mean that the schemes investigated may not reflect the local economic, political and commercial situation, which would make them impractical to implement. This risk will be addressed through thorough and careful inception and scoping phases (WP1 & 2), with full engagement with relevant stakeholders including  MBC officers and Members. MBC has a good record of engagement as evidenced by the work on the Health Impact Assessment of the AQAP and the work of the long standing  Air Quality Steering Group (part of the delivery team) which is always well attended.

The project will be delivered ensuring that the three corporate objectives of MBC are considered at every stage.  

WP1: Inception Phase

Summary of Work Package

A short consultation period with the project delivery team, air quality and transport steering group and other identified stakeholders , including commercial transport operators and local businesses, will be carried out. This will provide an understanding of stakeholder emphasis or preference for either low emission zones or schemes and enable the successful consultant to share their  experience and knowledge to help steer later phases of work.

Stakeholder consultation will continue throughout.

Outputs and Key Milestones of WP1

1) Inception Stakeholder Event

2) Minutes of Inception Stakeholder event

3) Identification of schemes to be taken through to WP2

Tasks in WP1 and who will carry them out

1) Identify stakeholders  - Project delivery team and successful air quality consultant.

2) Set up and run stakeholder Inception event - successful consultant (all stakeholders) held at MBC.

3) Write up minutes of stakeholder event - Consultant and delivery team.

3) Produce list of potential low emission schemes for progression to Scoping Phase - Consultant & Project Lead

WP2: Scoping Phase

Summary of Work Package

Work to assess the potential benefits of several options and to prioritise them with the steering group. At this stage the use of screening tools will be appropriate and the priority is to quantify the potential emissions reductions and air quality benefits of the options, as well as the  approximate health benefit and implementation and enforcement feasibility issues. Measures to be considered could include the introduction of low emission zones or schemes, electric vehicles, car share schemes, travel planning, HGV re-routing and the management of bus emissions.

Outputs and Key Milestones of WP2

1) Stakeholder Scoping Event

2) Report detailing the progress of schemes identified at inception phase.

3) Identification of data requirements to carry out detailed assessment WP3. This will include the identification of supplemental traffic data/modelling that may be required.

4) Report will be produced providing details of the methods and outcomes of the Inception and Scoping phases (within 4 months of contract award).

Tasks in WP2 and who will carry them out

1) Stakeholder Scoping Event - Project  team and successful air quality consultant. Held at MBC

2) Minutes of Stakeholder Scoping Event - Consultant & delivery team

2) Screening assessment - Consultant

3) Identification of missing data required for the  detailed assessment Phase (WP3)- Consultant & KCC Transport Planner

4) Instigation of supplemental traffic data acquisition if required. Project Lead & KCC Transport Planner

5) Write Inception/Scoping report - Consultant

WP3

Detailed Assessment

Summary of Work Package

A small number of preferred options will be taken forward from the Scoping phase and a full analysis of each carried out.

A high level of quantitative detail is possible depending on the traffic and stakeholder data available. Where data is not available the Project Lead will work with the Consultant and KCC Transport Planners to, where possible, acquire the required modelling or surveys. Details of this cannot be provided at this time as it is dependent on WP1&2.

The detailed assessment will include a) cost-effectiveness analyses of those LEZ options, b) Health impact assessment (HIA) focussed on the benefits associated with reduced PM10 and NOx emissions due to the LEZ option and c) an environmental assessment incorporating the HIA and identifying other potential environmental benefits or impacts associated with the LEZ options, particularly those related to climate change.

Outputs and Key Milestones of WP2

1) Final Report detailing the project work which provides the evidence base for local decision makers.

2) The report will provide detailed cost benefit analysis of proposed schemes

3) The report to provide recommendations that will assist in implementing the assessed schemes.

4) Stakeholder Project Closure Event to disseminate the findings of the report to stakeholders.

Tasks in WP3 and who will carry them out

1) Data acquisition - Consultant

2) Supplemental data acquisiation - Project lead & KCC Transport Planners

3) Quantitiative assessment of schemes - Consultant

4) Final report - Consultant

5) Stakeholder Closure Presentation - Consultant & Project Lead (to be held at MBC Offices).

6) Stakeholder Project Assessment Questionaire - Consultant & Project Lead.

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The project will be put out to tender to air quality consultants in accordance with Council's procurement policy and the appointment confirmed within three months of receipt of agreement.

Project will start in the early part of December 2011.

1) Initial kick off meeting will take place within 2 weeks of contract award

2) Consultation workshops and stakeholder meetings for the inception (WP1)and scoping phase (WP2) will take place within 3 months.

3) Outputs of WP1 completed by 2 months

4) Output of WP2 completed by 4 months

5) The detailed phase including the finalization of emissions inventory and the air quality and economic, health and environmental assessment of the options will be completed within 10 months

6) A draft report, setting out the evidence base, to be complete within 12 months

Project Completion - November 2012

Spend Profile dates:

31/12/2011

31/03/2012

30/06/2012

30/09/2012

31/12/2012

A summary of the report will be available on the Maidstone Borough Council Air Quality Web pages along with the full report. It will also be presented to the Joint transportation Board which involves both County and District members.

The work will be reported through presentations at National and Local events, for example:

IAPSC

Kent and Medway Air Quality Partnership

London Air Quality Network Event

All the above knowledge transfer activities will take place once the project is completed, although this does not preclude inclusion of the project in seminars as it develops.

As far as we are aware, all work packages can be completed using publically available software and data. All reports will be published and be publically available once complete at the end of the project.

Data collection work that may be required in WP2 would only be agreed to, if it can be made publically available at the end of the project.

Details of Consultant proposals will not be available until after the tendering process but it is not envisaged that any consultant would require Intellectual Property Rights to complete the work. However, any issues in relation to these Terms and Conditions brought forward by external partners will be raised with Defra for clarification and resolution.

The status of the project will be monitored through the adherence of the successful consultant to the proposed timeline and production of relevant milestones, as well as through formal communication between the Project Lead  and the confirmed consultant. These will occur at least monthly for the duration of the project.

The Council plans to monitor the project against the set milestones and key deliverables within the specification to tender, which will form part of a contract with the successful consultant. The timescale s for monitoring are set out in section 3.

One of the key deliverables for Maidstone Borough Council is the effective engagement with transport and planning professionals together with wider sustainable and environmental professionals. The success of this deliverable will be assessed via questionaire at the project closure event.

The final report will be used to adapt the AQAPand provide robust data to assist the Integrated Transport Strategy (being written in support of the Core Strategy). The report will provide evidence to prioritise low emission schemes in Maidstone that deliver emission reductions from both the LTP3 and Integrated Transport Strategy.

This work is a key starting block towards achieving the longer term aim of setting up practical measures to reduce emissions using all relevant and available strategies, partnerships and potential funding sources. The success of the project can be assessed annually by its reference and use in those ongoing discussions.