Mid Devon Air Quality – A Problem?

1. Securing Air Quality Funding through Planning Obligations: Mid Devon formulaSimon NewcombeLead Officer - Environmental Protection Mid Devon District Council

2. Mid Devon Air Quality – A Problem? • Mid Devon covers a large rural area but with a relatively low population (76k people) • Air quality is largely good across the district, however we have two AQMAs (Crediton – 2004 and Cullompton – 2007) • Historic market towns with high volume of congested traffic on main routes combined with street canyons and residential properties close to the kerb • Relatively large development pressures for new housing and commercial development = growing population

3. Developing Air Quality Policy Decision made in 2005 to develop a robust policy on air quality and development control Identified the need for a consistent criteria for judging air quality constraints/impacts in relation to new development and a transparent, effective mechanism to secure mitigation measures/funding Early engagement and consultation with our Forward Strategic Planners vital as part of the emerging Local Development Framework (LDF) Therefore a partnership approach with opportunities to develop new policy via LDF

4. The key policy ‘hooks’ and process Incorporated the requirement to draft new air quality policy and produce a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) into the Crediton AQMA Action Plan (adopted 2006) Work started on incorporating air quality policy into the MDDC LDF Core Strategy following AQAP adoption Core Strategy is the key spatial planning policy document for the MDDC area up to 2026 - Adopted in July 2007 following Planning Inspector Examination Evidence of district air quality issues and policy approach provided in a topic paper on ‘Transport & Air Quality’

5. MDDC LDF Core Strategy (2007) Air Quality: Vision Policies COR1, 14 and 15 The planning inspector stated: “there is a serious air quality problem (in Crediton)…the approach of the Core Strategy to give weight to this concern and explore developer contributions, through policy COR15 (f) and (g) is the appropriate way forward.” http://www.middevon.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2605

6. Developing the SPD With the appropriate policy ‘hooks’ in place, development of the SPD started in 2007 and adopted in May 2008 Key components: - Expansion of the policy framework set out in the Core Strategy - Specify when an Air Quality Assessment (AQA) is required - Guidance on content and outcomes of an AQA without being prescriptive over methodology (future proofing against technical developments in modelling for example) - Guidance on assessing significance - Set-out a formula for developer air quality contributions under s106 or other planning obligations, initially for the Crediton AQMA but sufficiently flexible to be applied in other circumstances - Look at cumulative impacts from smaller developments - Synergy with other policy and initiatives e.g. LTP2 and Climate Change

7. Developing the SPD cont… Joint project between Air Quality and Forward Planning officers Looked at available national guidance e.g. EPUK, LAQM, Planning etc Also looked at other LA SPD’s or similar planning policy documents Plenty of guidance on doing an AQ Assessment and some guidance on examining significance Very little guidance on formulas to calculate developer contributions Where other LA’s had produced a £ figure for developer contributions there was little or no justification/reasoning

8. MDDC Formula - Principles Unique formula for a standard charge developed in-house. Transparent and scaled to reflect the varying impact of different development types (vehicle trip generation) Who will pay – specific development types within Crediton area over 10-year period, based on known development rates (Core Strategy) Contributions directly for implementing AQAP measures Cost implementing AQAP measures had to be calculated An approach which can be applied in other circumstances e.g. major developments outside of an AQMA and the emerging Cullompton AQAP

9. MDDC Formula - Details Calculates a standard charge for following developments - Market housing (1 bed) - Market housing (>1 bed) - Affordable housing - Employment - Retail – food - Retail – non-food Contributions spread across the anticipated development rates in the Crediton catchment (as set out in the Core Strategy) for a ten-year period (2006-2016) Crediton catchment means Crediton town and adjacent parishes (well established for strategic planning purposes) Provides for up to 50% of the AQAP implementation costs (calculated in the range £2.6-5.1 million)

10. MDDC Formula – Details cont… Formula (completed for both the low cost estimate of £2.6m and the high cost estimate of £5.1m): Calculation of number vehicle trips generated by new development Calculation below completed for each relevant development type category. Total no. development units over 10-year period (2006-2016) by type x Vehicle trips generated per development unit x Viability unit (factor based upon ability to contribute) = Total trips requiring payment by development type over 10-year period (b) Calculation of total number of vehicle trips requiring payment (all development types) Sum of (a) for each development type category

11. MDDC Formula – Details cont… Formula: (c) Calculation of overall contribution per development type Calculation below completed for each relevant development type category (b) / (a) x 2.62m (low cost estimate) and (b) / (a) x 5.15m (high cost estimate) (d) Calculation of overall standard charge per unit of development by type (c) / total number of development units 2006-2016 (low cost estimate) and (c) / total number of development units 2006-2016 (high cost estimate)

12. MDDC Formula – Example Formula example for Retail non-food development (high-cost estimate): 1 unit = 100 square metres gross floor area (GFA) 2 average vehicle trips per day based in national TRICS database 3 calculated by dividing total trips requiring payment (for the development type) by the overall total trips requiring payment for all development types (8837 vehicle trips per day including the total for retail non-food) then multiplying by the 50% high-cost AQAP implementation cost of £5.15m

13. The formula result (Crediton AQMA)

14. A few final points… Payments secured by 10-year planning obligations/s106 agreements etc and are rarely linked to a specific AQAP measure (rather to overall AQAP) Minor developments pay at lower end of range and enables some capture of cumulative impacts Secure a banded payment (low-high) from major development dependant on final cost of AQAP implementation All major developments + some others still required to complete an AQA (SPD criteria incorporated into 1App planning application verification process) Having an AQA means that ‘above average’ polluting schemes can be scrutinised in detail and ensure no conflicts with AQAP

15. A few (more) final points… Successful in obtaining £1.2-2m contributions from Tesco and over £75,000 other contributions since 2008 Use the Crediton formula for other circumstances - Emerging Cullompton AQAP - For major development outside our AQMAs (especially where a pro-rata contributions required for different development types/phases/applications) Looking at applying/updating the SPD and formula in new policy developments e.g. Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) MDDC pilot authority for LESDP – project to incorporate a joint assessment of climate change impact, low carbon technology and low emission strategy potential for residential development allocation sites in our emerging Development Plan Document (DPD)

16. Further Information Simon Newcombe T: 01884 244615 E: snewcombe@middevon.gov.uk Related planning document including Planning Inspectors Core Strategy Examination Report, SPD adoption statement etc available at: http://www.middevon.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1885 http://www.middevon.gov.uk/media/pdf/j/1/Air_Quality_SPD.pdf