Local Air Quality Management

Thanet District Council has been monitoring air pollutants since 1993. In 1997 the Council joined the 'Kent Air Quality Partnership' - a county wide initiative to pool information, knowledge and data to aid long term planning for the county and to enable pollution trends to be monitored.

The Council has a legal obligation to undertake periodic reviews and assessments of air quality within its area. The quality of the air is judged against national air quality objectives for specified pollutants. Where necessary, Action plans must be implemented with the aim of improving air quality. However, the responsibility for improving air quality rests with the Government.

An Air Quality Management Area has been designated along the A28 at The Square, Birchington. A detailed assessment was carried out in February 2005 which showed that there is a risk of exceeding air quality objectives for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂) and Fine Particles (PM₁₀) in this area. The main source of both these is from road transport.