To receive petitions and public questions in accordance with Standing Order 9.
Minutes:
Under Standing Order 9, the Mayor invited the public questioners to pose their questions as follows:
Question 1- Mr Cliff Goodman
There is a global climate emergency, official warnings from government sources suggest that bold, imaginative action is needed to drastically reduce carbon levels and slow temperature rise. There are official warnings of rising sea levels, heavier rainfall, hotter summers, and increase in climate related mortality. The list goes on. What does this Council intend to do regarding bold imaginative action?
Councillor Devereux responded as follows:
“Our Borough of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk adopted the Norfolk Climate Change Strategy in 2008 and also signed up to the Nottingham Accord in 2008. As I reported in some detail to the April Council this year; The Strategy set two high level goals to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, which continue today!
Firstly: The mitigation objective was “To cut carbon emissions by reducing energy consumption and promoting a shift to low-carbon technology”
Secondly: The adaptation objective was “To improve Norfolk’s resilience to the changing climate, including reduction of the socio-economic and environmental risks associated with flooding and coastal erosion
A whole series of individual projects were set up at the time to pursue these goals and over several years Annual reports demonstrated their success with reducing CO2 emissions, before Government discontinued the need for further reporting. Implementation of those projects and others, have continued to deliver reductions in emissions from Borough Council sources. Recent interactions have resulted in our decision to make this work more visible, and to quantify our current achievements which will enable us to set appropriate objectives and our future course of action.
The first phase of our programme is to collect data to establish a base line for the current carbon footprint of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk, then to identify further mitigation measures. In parallel we are exploring working with other Norfolk Councils and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership to enable us to establish the overall carbon footprint for the whole of West Norfolk.
Clearly the wider impact of this Councils programme depends on the relevant actions by government and other agencies. We are mindful, therefore, that the nature of our Borough presents its own unique challenges and constraints. For example, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk is the third largest district by area but sparsely populated. The peat-based fenland and history of landfill sites with few forest areas mean that historically we have contributed to the ‘carbon emission burden’. Furthermore, the rural nature of the area and the reliance on major trunk roads including the A47, A17, A10, A148 and A149; and national infrastructure such as power stations, all adversely influence our overall carbon footprint, but, are beyond direct control of this Council.
Significant progress is also being made on the Adaptation Objective. My report to be taken by Council later, highlights the multi-million, 75 year programme of infrastructure work for Flood Risk Management of the Hunstanton sea defences including provisions for sea-level rise. Also, it highlights the importance of working with the Regional Authorities to achieve balanced and effective outcomes.
In Summary, over the last three months, or so, the Leadership of this Council has established a comprehensive action plan, estimated resources, provisioned an initial budget, then assigned key staff to undertake the work. This programme has a high profile and is attracting interest across many of our operations. In our view a significant achievement!”
By way of supplementary, Mr Goodman referred to measures to encourage the public to take action to help climate change and asked of something such as a workshop held at North Norfolk Council could be encouraged.
Councillor Devereux gave assurance that when any events were planned they would be well publicised, and there would be interaction with groups.
Question 2 – Mr Lee Stevens
Where in central King's Lynn are the current monitoring sites for NO2 and PM10 levels and is any differentiation made in the analysis of the data to recognise the fact that, at times of queueing or stationary traffic, there will be a corresponding detrimental impact on air quality? For example, in the last six months, how many times have the mean levels for NO2 and PM10 been exceeded?
Councillor Devereux responded as follows:
“The location of the existing monitoring sites can be found in the published Annual Status Report (ASR) 2019 here: https://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/info/20137/air_quality/169/air_quality_information
There have been no exceedances of the National Air Quality Objectives so far in 2019, as recorded by the automatic instruments within the borough. The National Air Quality Objectives can be viewed here: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/assets/documents/Air_Quality_Objectives_Update.pdf
Please see below for a site by site breakdown of 2019 monitoring results so far. Further information can be found in the 2019 Annual Status Report (use first link). See page 17 for NO2 information, and page 20 for PM10.
Nitrogen Dioxide Hourly Mean > 200 µg m-3 Annual allowance of 18
King's Lynn Gaywood 0 Exceedances Maximum 138 µg m-3
King's Lynn Southgates 0 Exceedances Maximum 84 µg m-3
There were no exceedances
Nitrogen Dioxide Annual Mean > 40 µg m-3
King's Lynn Gaywood 35 µg m-3
King's Lynn Southgates 20 µg m-3
There were no exceedances
Gravimetric PM10 Daily > 50 µg m-3 Annual allowance of 35
King's Lynn Estuary Close 0 Exceedances Maximum 37 µg m-3
King's Lynn Page Stair Lane 0 Exceedances Maximum 36 µg m-3
King's Lynn Stoke Ferry Buckenham Drive 0 Exceedances Maximum 33 µg m-3
King's Lynn Stoke Ferry TEOM 6 Exceedances Maximum 61 µg m-3
King's Lynn Stoke Ferry Wretton Road 0 Exceedances Maximum 29 µg m-3
Gravimetric PM10 Annual Mean > 40 µg m-3
King's Lynn Estuary Close 12 µg m-3
King's Lynn Page Stair Lane 12 µg m-3
King's Lynn Stoke Ferry Buckenham Drive 9 µg m-3
King's Lynn Stoke Ferry TEOM 19 µg m-3
King's Lynn Stoke Ferry Wretton Road 10 µg m-3
There were no exceedances
The National Air Quality Objectives for NO2 and PM10 are based on annual means, 24-hour means or hourly means. Roadside monitoring will pick up the changes in vehicle emissions throughout the day and periods of congestion, but the health standards relate to residential dwellings (annual mean) or where people may congregate for up to one hour (hourly mean; the bus station is the only site that would meet this criteria and is monitored for NO2).
The DEFRA Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) gives information on day to day levels and the impact on health and advice: https://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/air-pollution/daqi .”
By way of supplementary Mr Stevens asked at what height the air quality monitoring stations were set at eg, pedestrian or child height.
Councillor Devereux responded that many of the monitors were between 6-10 ft high, the box in St James’ park was at 3ft. This information was contained within the report on the Council’s website.