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# Scheme to cut air pollution on A38 around Lichfield set to end after nine years
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/scheme-to-cut-air-pollution-on-a38-around-lichfield-set-to-end-after-nine-years/
- Published: 2025-02-22T08:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-02-21T08:57:32.000Z
- Description: A scheme to cut air pollution along a busy stretch of road is set to come to an end after nine years.
- Author: Jonathan Sutton, Local Democracy Reporter
- Tags: Environment, Politics, Transport, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 18:49, News

A SCHEME to cut air pollution along a busy stretch of road is set to come to an end after nine years.

Lichfield District Council introduced an air quality management area (AQMA) covering the A38 between Wall Island and Alrewas in 2016 due to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exceeding legal limits in previous years.

Now the council is looking at revoking the AQMA, as levels have consistently fallen and are now below the limit of 40 micrograms per cubic metre for the five years.

High levels of air pollutants can cause chronic cardiovascular and respiratory disease and cancers leading to reduced life expectancy.

A council report submitted to the regulatory and licensing committee links the improvement in air quality with the increased reliance on electric vehicles and a greater number of people working from home.

It is also hoped that by 2026 the district will not have any AQMAs.

The report by Cllr Alex Farrell, cabinet member for housing and the Local Plan, said:

> “The annual status report submitted to DEFRA in June 2024, based on data from 2023 and preceding years, shows a steady improvement in measured NO2 in the AQMAs and across the district, with a marked and sustained drop since the pandemic in 2020-21.  
>  
> “Measured levels have consistently met the criteria set by DEFRA for revocation of an AQMA for five years.  
>  
> “Improvements in local air quality can be attributed to the increase in reliance on electric vehicles and cleaner internal combustion engine vehicles, changes to commuter traffic due to an increase in people working from home and the work of environmental health officers to regulate local industrial processes that pollute the air and in enforcing the smoke control provisions.  
>  
> “This is brilliant news for Lichfield district and the health of local people.  
>  
> “In 2026 it is likely that the district will have met the national objectives and be free from any AQMAs.”

Councillors have now been asked to support the revocation of the AQMA and recommend that the cabinet member formally withdraw it following a statutory consultation with DEFRA.

The regulatory and licensing committee is set to meet next week to make a decision.