Cleaner air for Scotland: the road to a healthier future

4. Legislation and Policy

A Scotland where all European and Scottish legal requirements relating to air quality are as a minimum complied with.

4.1 We will ensure that CAFS is successful by leading a collaborative approach across all policies, organisations, and professions to seek full compliance with EU air quality legislation by 2020. We will also implement new initiatives like the National Modelling Framework and the National Low Emission Framework, which are covered in Sections 10 and 11.

4.2 These goals will be supported by ensuring that the Local Air Quality Management ( LAQM) system remains fit for purpose (see footnote 27). The LAQM system is the framework within which local authorities assess and tackle air pollution and is the foundation of all our efforts to improve air quality in Scotland. The Scottish Government has carried out a comprehensive review of the LAQM ^[32] system and has produced a series of proposals ^[33] , which will be introduced during 2016. In addition to reflecting these proposals, the revised and updated LAQM guidance will take account of the linkages between air quality and noise. Local authority action plans will continue to play an essential role as part of the LAQM system in particular, as well as in wider efforts to improve air quality.

4.3 Establishing a network to monitor fine particulate matter ( PM _2.5) dovetails with the commitment in paragraph 5.18 to include World Health Organization ( WHO) guidelines in Scottish air quality objectives.

We will:

• Refocus the Local Air Quality Management system
• Establish a PM _2.5 monitoring network
• Produce revised and updated Scottish action plans to demonstrate how we will achieve compliance with the EU ambient air quality Directive