Assessment of air quality, emissions and management in a local urban environment.

This paper describes one example of how the UK National Air Quality Strateg y (NAQS) is implemented in a local urban environment. The paper reviews the beginning of this process, by examining the review and assessment procedur es of the NAQS in the London Borough of Barnet. By the application of avail able UK tools of local air quality management (LAQM), the process began thr ough analysis of the levels of local emissions and progressed onto modellin g of current and future air quality. A map showing combined emission hotspo t areas for the Borough indicated that higher emission rates occur in the s outh of the Borough and along the major transport corridors, as road source s dominate emissions. Dispersion modelling studies were also conducted for this purpose, using the screening models GRAM, PGRAM and ADMS Urban for an in-depth assessment. These analyses found that some local point sources and the majority of Borough roads with over 20,000 vehicles per day produced e xceedances of the future objectives for air quality for some pollutants. Recommendations for the progression of LAQM in the Borough are made and inc lude the update and expansion of the emissions information held for use in future modelling studies. The paper demonstrates the experience of implemen ting the Strategy, using the tools and procedures available for this purpos e, in a local urban environment that is similar to many in the UK.