Air Quality
The main pollutants of concern in the Blaby District, as in most areas of the UK, are associated with road traffic, in particular Nitrogen Dioxide and fine particulate matter at locations close to busy, congested roads where people may live or work. The trend for the Blaby District is encouraging, and air pollutant concentrations experienced an overall decrease in 2023 compared to 2022.
How we measure Air Quality
The council measures Nitrogen Dioxide at several locations around the district using Diffusion Tubes. These are small plastic tubes that sample Nitrogen Dioxide over a 1-month period before being sent to a laboratory for analysis. There are currently 28 of these installed in the Blaby district. The council also has 5 continuous monitors known as Air Quality Monitoring Stations which measure Nitrogen Dioxide and 2 of them measure Particulate matter in addition. The Council has also been successful in bidding for some Defra Air Quality Grant money, which has been used to purchase some low-cost monitors called Zephyrs. There are currently 15 Zephyrs installed throughout the district, and they mainly measure particulate matter. The locations and results for 2023 for all of these monitors can be viewed in the Blaby District Council Annual Status Report. This report can be viewed by clicking the link in the list at the bottom of this page.
Air Quality Management Areas
The National Air Quality Objective for the average annual concentration of nitrogen dioxide is 40 micrograms per meter cubed. Previous review and assessments have identified areas of concern, known as Air Quality Management Areas. Currently there are two designated Air Quality Management Areas in the district, all of which were declared in relation to exceedances of the national Air Quality annual mean Objective for Nitrogen Dioxide. These are as follows:
- AQMA 6: Mill Hill, Enderby
- AQMA 7: Lubbesthorpe Road, Braunstone Town
Blaby District Council are in the process of writing an Air Quality Action Plan to address the exceedances in the Air Quality Management Areas and to improve the Air Quality of the District. This new report is due to be published in 2025 and will replace the existing Air Quality Action Plan 2021-2025. The current report can be viewed by clicking the link in the list at the bottom of this page.
Blaby District Council are committed to continuing to monitor and manage the Air Quality throughout the district. If you have any questions, or would like to request further information, please contact us by using the form at the bottom if this page.
Use the link in the External links section to check the latest monitoring results in Blaby District. Please note that the data requires calculations to be applied before being final.