Agenda item

To consider proposals for the Council to announce their ‘Intention to Declare’ the whole Borough of Sandwell as a Smoke Control Area (SCA) under the Clean Air Act 1993.

Consideration was given for Cabinet to endorse and recommend to the Council the proposal for Sandwell Council to announce their Intention to Declare the whole Borough of Sandwell as a Smoke Control Area (SCA) under the Clean Air Act 1993.

The Chair of the Economy, Skills, Transport and Environment Scrutiny Board queried how the smoke control order would be enforced and whether this would be financed through existing budgets. In response, the Cabinet Member for Adults, Social Care and Health confirmed that enforcement would be carried out using existing budgets and would be enforced in the same way other local authorities enforced their smoke control areas, by following the graduated route set down in the Regulators’ Code, from informal advice right through to prosecution in some circumstances. Members would be provided with a full briefing later in the week.

Reasons for Decision

Sandwell Council had a duty to assess air quality and where necessary take appropriate action to protect the health of those living and working in the Borough.

There had been concerns about poor air quality in Sandwell. In 2020 Sandwell Council undertook a public consultation on Climate Change and Air Quality. Of the 654 responses, 70% strongly agreed that improving air quality should be a key priority for Sandwell MBC.

Out of 72 local authorities found to have dangerous background concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in 2019, Sandwell and Leicester were the only two local authorities that had these exceedances outside of London and the South East of England.

PM2.5 concentrations and other toxic emissions were closely associated with domestic burning. PM2.5 had a significant impact on human health. It could cause coughs, dizziness, inflamed airways and shortness of breath. It increased the risk of pneumonia, COPD and lung cancer as well as heart disease and stroke, leading to early death. It could also impact pregnancy and the development of children’s lungs.

The use of open fires and solid-fuel burning stoves had risen in popularity over recent years and concerns continued about the current and future impact on urban air quality.

At present many properties in the Borough could still legally burn unauthorised fuels (i.e. wood and coal) in non-exempted appliances. The proposed new single Smoke Control Area would address this inequality.

Alternative Options

To continue with Sandwell’s 51 Smoke Control Orders would mean that differing legal requirements would remain for exempted properties compared to other parts of the borough. This would be inequitable and result in mixed messages and potential greater levels of non-compliance by those in existing smoke control areas who consider themselves unfairly penalised.

Air pollution was already impacting negatively on our economy and health - the do nothing option would result in higher costs to the health and lower the quality of life for those who lived and worked in Sandwell.