Weather disruption
Winter weather is causing disruption to services in some parts of the county. Find out what services may be affected in your area.
The air quality management area (AQMA)
An air quality management area was declared in Dorchester along High East Street in May 2009. Road traffic emissions were causing the nitrogen dioxide annual mean objective, set by the government for the protection of health, to be exceeded at homes along this road. Once an AQMA has been declared, the council has a duty to undertake a further assessment of the original declaration to confirm the decision and to determine the main sources of pollution within the area. This assessment has been completed and the reports reaffirms the council's decision to declare an AQMA in High East Street and concludes that the vast majority of the nitrogen dioxide pollution is from traffic, in particular cars and heavy goods vehicles.
The air quality action plan for Dorchester
Once an AQMA has been declared an action plan needs to be produced to reduce the nitrogen dioxide levels to below the national annual mean objective of 40µg/m3. The plan must detail specific actions to be implemented within given timescales.
A Draft Dorchester Air Quality Plan 2011 has now been produced by the council with stakeholders. Members of the public were invited to comment on the plan during the consultation period that ran from January 2011 to March 2011. This document is now awaiting comments from Defra and once these are received, the final plan will be put in place.
Air quality monitoring in Dorchester
The council operates a low resolution diffusion. Detailed Monitoring Results for Dorchester from our Nitrogen Dioxide Diffusion Tube Survey, the monitoring programme was reviewed in January 2010. This report reviews monitoring previously undertaken as well as providing a map of the monitoring locations.