Following the Portfolio Holder for Environment’s & ICT agreement to be part of the draft consultation process to adopt the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy in November 2024, the proposed strategy was presented to the Essex Chief Executives’ Forum (ECEF) recently, where plans for finalising the strategy were set out.

The ECEF supported the proposed strategy unanimously, and agreement to publish the final strategy on the EssexAir website at the end of October 2025 was given the green light to proceed.

Essex County Council took the final strategy to its Cabinet on Tuesday 9^th September 2025 when it was formally adopted.

This report seeks the agreement of Cabinet to endorse the adoption of the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy for Essex 2025-2029, in accordance with the Portfolio Holder’s agreement to participate in the consultation process.

RESOLVED that –

(a)     the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy 2025-2029 in the form appended to this report (i.e. Appendix 1) be formally adopted; and

(b)   it is noted that other councils across Essex will be taking individual decisions regarding adopting the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy 2024-2029.

It was reported that, following the Portfolio Holder for Environment & ICT’s agreement to be part of the draft consultation process to adopt the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy in November 2024, the proposed strategy had been presented to the Essex Chief Executives’ Forum (ECEF) where plans for finalising the strategy had been set out. The ECEF had supported the proposed strategy unanimously, and agreement to publish the final strategy on the EssexAir website at the end of October 2025 had been given the green light to proceed.

Essex County Council (ECC) had taken the final strategy to its Cabinet on Tuesday 9th September 2025 when it had been approved and adopted on behalf of ECC. The final version of the strategy had been published at the end of October which now afforded all other Essex Local Authorities to go through their governance process and seek a decision to formally adopt it.

This report (A.6) therefore sought the agreement of Cabinet to endorse the adoption of the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy for Essex 2025-2029 on behalf of Tendring District Council.

The Leader of the Council read out a statement on behalf of the Environment & ICT Portfolio Holder who had been unable to attend the meeting.

Cabinet endorsed the reasoning behind the Portfolio Holder’s recommendations as follows:-

(1)     by formally adopting the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy it would ensure that Tendring was part of a robust and focussed approach to tackling poor Air Quality across the County, whilst implementing changes where appropriate to protect the health and safety of current and future generations who resided in this District. It would allow Tendring to be part of discussions on a county level via working groups and ensure that it was ahead of the curve regarding any proposed or new legislative changes.

(2)     in the light of impending Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) it would afford the opportunity to work collaboratively with neighbouring Councils and provide a joined-up approach to protect public health and wellbeing.

(3)     although Tendring did not have an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) within the District, it needed to assess air quality in the District for the specified pollutants and submit Annual Status Reports to the Department for Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). By adopting the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy, it would remove the need for Tendring to draft its own strategy, whilst ensuring that it adhered to the principles set out in the strategy and continued to follow best practice in accordance with other Local Authorities throughout the County. By being part of the strategy and the Essex wide working groups, it would ensure that any new legislation, regulations and guidance were discussed and that this Council’s work in monitoring and improving Air Quality in Tendring was appropriate and focussed accordingly.

It was moved by Councillor Stephenson, seconded by Councillor Scott and:-

RESOLVED that –

(a)     the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy 2025-2029 in the form appended to this report (i.e. Appendix 1) be formally adopted; and

(b)   it is noted that other councils across Essex will be taking individual decisions regarding adopting the Essex Wide Air Quality Strategy 2024-2029.