Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 15 October 2012.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been awarded to each local authority in air quality grants in each of the last two years; and by what means the level of funding awarded to each local authority is determined.
Tables showing the local authorities in England that were awarded air quality grants in 2010-11 and 2011-12 have been placed in the House Library.
We are currently assessing project bids for the 2012-13 allocation period. As in the previous year, priority for grant funding will be given to projects that propose tackling exceedences of the UK objectives and EU limit values for nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Eligibility has been limited to English local authorities with one or more air quality management areas for NO2 and those authorities where DEFRA's national air quality assessment in 2010, as reported to the European Commission, identified an exceedence in their area. Full details of the eligibility criteria are on DEFRA's website.
DEFRA provided additional funding of £1.186 million for the 2011-12 programme because the original £2 million fund had been very heavily oversubscribed. £2 million has been provided for the 2012-13 programme. The allocations will be announced later this year.
Local authorities that are successful in gaining this funding are required to provide DEFRA with a progress report to monitor the delivery and value for money of each project.
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