Braintree District Council’s Cabinet has voted to adopt the Essex Air Quality Strategy.
The strategy has been jointly developed by the EssexAir consortium, an organisation encompassing all Essex district, borough and city councils, as well as Essex County Council and the two unitary councils, Southend and Thurrock. It will provide overarching shared aims and actions, strengthening partnership working on Air Quality matters and providing for a consistent approach across the county.
The strategy provides greater opportunity for joint funding bids to secure external funding for air quality improvements and ensures that councils in Essex have fulfilled their legal duty introduced by the Environment Act 2021’s secondary legislation to produce and publish such a strategy.
The Council’s adoption of the strategy follows a 12-week public consultation led by Essex County Council earlier in the year, in which Braintree residents played an active part. Included in the strategy is an action plan for authorities, which outlines steps such as encouraging and enabling use of public transport, working together as strategic air quality partners and raising awareness of air quality issues.
Councillor Toby Williams, Deputy Cabinet Member for Housing, Health and Wellbeing, said: “Braintree District Council has embraced the opportunity to work with our partners in EssexAir to develop this strategy over the last year. We are lucky to have relatively good air quality in the Braintree district, but we take our duty of care to residents and visitors very seriously. With the adoption of the Essex Air Quality Strategy, we are formalising our commitment to its overarching aims and actions.”