Environment:

The Council has carried out a series of reviews and assessments of the air quality in the Borough in accordance with the criteria and guidance required by the Government.  All such assessments so far indicate that the air quality in the Borough is of good quality and meets the objectives set in the current Air Quality Regulations

To see what the air quality is like in the North East Region today select this link:

To see the latest reviews and updating assessments which are held on the public documents pages of this website select this link

You can also access the Details Air Quality review here

Pollution Control

The enforcement powers available under Part 1 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and associated legislation are: -

• Enforcement Notices
• Prohibition Notices
• Variation Notices
• Revocation Notices
• Formal Caution
• Prosecution

In general terms, where contraventions are noted the first step will be to advise the person responsible of the contravention and the steps needed to rectify the problem. Therefore the service of a notice would not normally be considered to be the first option. There is however an exception to this general rule and that is where the contravention found is sufficiently serious that not to serve a notice straight away would leave a danger to the public or serious damage to the environment.

The normal situation where it would be appropriate to serve a notice is where a contravention has been previously brought to the attention of an offender but has not been actioned after a reasonable period of time. Another alternative situation where a notice would be served is where a contravention is noted and the past history of the offender is such that there is little or no prospect of an informal approach having the desired effect.

A Prohibition Notice would be served where serious pollution to the environment is happening or could happen. In such circumstances, it would not be appropriate for there to be a delay or an informal approach to be taken, although dialogue with the process operator would take place, if appropriate.

A Variation Notice is used to amend or vary an existing authorisation. There are two circumstances where a Variation Notice could be served, one where the process operator requests a variation and the second where the enforcing authority considers that a variation is needed. In both cases considerable discussion between the enforcing authority and process operator will be needed before the notice is served.

Revocation Notices will be served in one of two situations. The first is where an authorised process has closed down or ceased to operate in such a way that it needs to hold an authorisation. Generally in such circumstances a request will be made by the process operator for a Revocation Notice to be served. The second situation is where a process operator does not pay their annual subsistence fee. The enforcing authority has the option in such circumstances to revoke the authorisation, however this would not be done unless the operator had been given a reasonable time to pay the fee.

The factors and procedure in considering a prosecution or formal caution are laid down in the main Enforcement Policy.

Typical situations that could result in a prosecution being taken are: -

• Non-compliance with a Enforcement or other legal notice without reasonable excuse
• A serious breach of an authorisation condition that either has or could result in pollution to the environment
• Contraventions where there is a history of non-compliance with authorisation conditions
• Operating an authorised process without the benefit of an authorisation, without reasonable excuse
• Obstructing an authorised officer

The enforcement powers available under the Clean Air Act 1993 and associated legislation are: -

• Formal caution
• Prosecution

There are a number of offences under the Clean Air Act where prosecution proceedings can be initiated. These relate generally to emissions to the environment and the procedures laid down in the main Enforcement Policy will be used to decide the appropriate action.

Typical situations that could result in a prosecution being taken are: -

• A history of dark smoke emissions from an industrial/commercial site
• A cable burning incident
• Obstructing an authorised officer