Cheshire East Council held two events aimed at helping staff and councillors to better understand how air quality can impact on the authority's work in different service areas.
Air quality has been the subject of significant interest recently, after an external investigation into the Council's air quality monitoring procedures in 2017 found that serious errors were made as a "result of deliberate and systematic manipulation of data".
The investigation also revealed that the Council failed to ensure that adequate processes, procedures and systems were in place to manage this data effectively.
This matter has since been referred to the Cheshire Police, who have launched a formal investigation into allegations that Cheshire East Council deliberately manipulated air quality data.
The training sessions were organised to provide a broad overview of how it is relevant in the borough and specifically the impact it can have on the planning process.
The training provided attendees the opportunity to understand why air quality is an area of national interest; get a local perspective on air quality; understand where air quality fits in within the National Planning Policy Framework; be aware of when local or European assessments apply and learn about recent legal cases, where air quality was a decisive factor.
Councillor Ainsley Arnold, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for housing, planning and regeneration, said: "I'm glad that we were able to put on these training sessions and that they were attended by such a broad range of professional interests within our authority.
"The sessions have allowed us to look objectively at how we deal with challenges around air quality and to look at the policies and strategies that other organisations have implemented.
"Although air quality is better in Cheshire East than many places, it is still an important issue and the training staff and members engaged with this week has provided food for thought about what more we can do."
Councillor Toni Fox, of the Dean Row ward, was amongst those who attended one of the training sessions and confirmed that members have not received any information on the falsified air quality data.
She said "Whilst the briefing was very welcome it raised a lot of questions also, including the obvious outstanding question, who falsified the air quality figures and for what reason?
Comments
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I think the training was very timely as 2 large developments in Macclesfield were withdrawn on the day the Royal London/Fulshaw Park site was passed, (interesting hearing that case, How "Gary Access Only" didn't mention pollution, and the long queue every day between 3 & 5).
Challenge Challenge Challenge all Local Plan applications, because it seem from what Sean Hannaby, Director of Planning at CEC says, they are not considering pollution effects, or the cumulative pollution effects on adjacent or local planning applications.