County Council Adopts New Emissions Strategy

Published on: 30 Nov, 2018
Updated on: 30 Nov, 2018

By Rebecca Curley

Local Democracy Reporter

Developers of major housing estates will be asked to put in more electric charging points and offer car clubs as part of Surrey County Council’s bid to tackle air pollution.

Measures to reduce emissions and improve air quality in the county were set out as as councillors heard 5% of deaths in Surrey in 2015 were “attributable to particulate air pollution”.

The Low Emissions Transport Strategy adopted by members of SCC Cabinet on Tuesday, November 27 also includes a commitment for more education around air pollution.

Cllr Mike Goodman

Referring to the number of deaths affected by air pollution, Cllr Mike Goodman, cabinet member for environment, said: “We in Surrey do take this seriously and we must tackle air pollution. Education is key to recognising air pollution and the important part we can play.”

The strategy and progress of measures to tackle air pollution will now fall under the guidance of the Surrey Waste Partnership.

Cllr Goodman added: “The aim of the strategy is to remove pollutants from road transport. We have 250 active areas in Surrey that show unacceptable levels of pollution. It’s only by working together in partnership we can make a difference.”

Section 106 money from major developments will include agreements on car clubs and electric vehicle charging points.

The main car club in Surrey is operated by Enterprise in partnership with SCC. Car clubs reduce the need to own a car by allowing people to rent them by the hour.

SCC will now ask borough and district councils, who are the planning authorities, as well as the developer to agree a car club is provided as part of a proposed new development.

It is proposed S106 money for cash from the Community Infrastructure Levy is used to pay for this.

This applies to developments with over 50 dwellings. Developments with up to 200 dwellings will be required to have one car provided. More than 1,000 and a developer will need to provide six to 10 cars.

There are 200 charging points in Surrey across 60 locations. Sixty of these points are in the borough of Guildford.

There are 28 places in the county that are classified as Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) which means they experience high levels of pollutants that are above national limits. The only boroughs not to have declared an area are Mole Valley and Tandridge.