Case study

Dairy Crest, Raleigh - Air Quality Assessment

The Dairy Crest site is located on the land rear of 98-128 High Street (Raleigh) with an access road off the A129, between two commercial units (108 and 110), in Essex, Rochford District.

The site was formally used as the Dairy Crest Depot. A planning application was submitted for the demolition of existing buildings and the redevelopment of the site to provide 2 commercial units and 24 residential apartments with associated landscaping.

We were commissioned to undertake an Air Quality Assessment (AQA) by Eden Luxe Ltd in order to establish whether the site’s location was considered suitable for the proposed use and to quantify any likely pollution impacts upon the surrounding area, or local sensitive receptors, as a result of the construction and/or operation of the proposed development.

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Transport Planning
Infrastructure Design
Environmental Assessment

Details

The challenges for smaller scale proposals

The site is located adjacent to Rayleigh’s town centre Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

The usual challenges associated with developments of this nature and scale are, the existing pollution levels in the vicinity of the site and the temporary impacts, upon the local area, associated with construction activities.

Very often traffic related impacts are not the main consideration for smaller scale proposals such as this.

The findings of the Air Quality Assessment

The AQA identified that:

all of the closest monitoring locations for the baseline year at the time (2018) were significantly below the annual mean objective for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂);
a net reduction of 34 two-way daily vehicle movements was anticipated following the completion of the proposed development when compared to the site’s previous/lawful use; and
mitigation measures were required/recommended to mitigate dust impacts during construction activities upon existing residents and Rayleigh Primary School.

The AQA concluded that the local air quality was considered suitable to safeguard the amenity, health and wellbeing of the future residents. More so, any operational traffic impacts were assessed as beneficial, when compared to the site’s previous/lawful use.

The proposal was granted planning permission by Rochford District Council planning committee in December 2020 (20/00452/FUL).

Author/Contact details

If your project requires an Air Quality Assessment or if you are interested in finding out how we can help you with your Air Quality needs throughout the planning process, please contact Lucinda Pestana lpestana@mayerbrown.co.uk.