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To approve the appointment of a consultant to undertake an origin destination Automatic
Number Plate Recognition (‘ANPR’)
survey and to provide an air quality modelling study for the
Storrington Air Quality Management Area
(‘AQMA’).
 
To approve the award of the required
consultancy contract (‘the contract’) to the supplier
identified and at the cost outlined in the exempt appendix.
 
To finalise the terms and conditions of, and
to approve the entering into of, the
contract in consultation with the Head of Legal and Democratic
Services.
 

Reasons for the decision

 
Horsham District Council
declared an AQMA in Storrington in 2010 due to NO2 exceedance. The
last Air Quality Action Plan (‘AQAP’) was made in 2020,
setting out the measures that would be put in place to improve air
quality within the AQMA. Work is currently underway to update the
AQAP.
 
The Council is interested in
exploring measures to reduce traffic levels currently using the
A283 in Storrington AQMA. It is suspected that a good number of
vehicles (such as the diesel cars and HGVs) that use the A283 are
through traffic, which are avoiding the A27 due to congestion. The
Council is interested in establishing the origin and destination of
the traffic using the A283 to understand the proportion of
through-traffic for the purposes of exploring: (i) the potential air quality improvement that can
be achieved from different scenarios that would deter the use of
the A283; and (ii) whether other behaviour change campaigns and
traffic management schemes (i.e. advisory routes, diversions) can
also deter the use of the A283.
 
The delivery of a
consultant’s report on the air quality improvement associated
with these scenarios can then be shared with West Sussex County
Council to support with identifying the preferred traffic related
air quality mitigation approaches for the Storrington
AQMA.
 

Alternative options considered

Other Air Quality Action Plan measures have
been considered to improve air quality in the Storrington AQMA such
as: (1) implementation of a 7.5T weight limit restriction on the
B2139 School Hill in Storrington to reduce heavy vehicles accessing
the AQMA; and (2) the A27 Arundel bypass (which would start at
Crossbush and reconnect with the
existing A27 in the west near the A27/A29 Fontwell (east) roundabout and reduce traffic flows
through Storrington where longer distance traffic is avoiding the
A27 due to congestion). However, regarding these: (1) despite this
7.5T weight limit restriction, there have been several breaches;
and (2) it has been confirmed that the A27 Arundel bypass will no
longer be taken forward. So other strategies now need to be
explored (see above).