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Find out about Guildford air quality management areas​

As a local council, we monitor air quality in the borough. If air quality in the borough does not meet the national standard, we will draw up an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) and draft an action plan to improve the air quality in that area.

We currently have the following three AQMAs:

Air Quality Management Area - Guildford town centre

The Guildford town centre AQMA was declared on 21 October 2021. This was following approval by the Guildford Joint Committee. View the AQMA order and site Plan (PDF, 688 KB).

The AQMA was declared due to:

  • Exceedances/potential exceedances of annual air quality for NO2 at several locations. (Diffusion tubes at Portsmouth road and Millbrook were found to show initial evidence of exceedance.)
  • Detailed air quality assessment using 2019 data

Further information is available in our recent Annual Status Reports and Guildford town centre Air Quality Detailed Assessment (PDF, 8 MB)

Next Action

A  draft Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) (Word doc, 1 MB) was produced for Guildford Town centre. The plan had inputs from key stakeholders. It was submitted to DEFRA following a public consultation in October 2022. The draft plan was accepted by DEFRA. A final AQAP will be produced. The final plan will be based on the outcome of a feasibility study on the air quality measures in the draft AQAP.

Air Quality Management Area - The Street Shalford

The Shalford AQMA was declared on 5 July 2019, following approval by the Guildford Joint Committee. View the AQMA order and site plan (PDF, 70 KB) The monitoring in Shalford started in 2018 at two locations using diffusion tubes. The annual air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) of 40 micorgrams per cubic meter (µg/m3) was found to be at a higher level at one receptor location. 

A further detailed assessment was completed in February 2019, which predicted that the annual air quality level is likely to exceed at the location to the west of the A281 on the Street, Shalford.

The source of NO2 in the area is linked to road traffic emissions. 

Air Quality Action Plan for Shalford

An Air Quality Action Plan for Shalford (PDF, 642 KB) has been produced, outlining a number of measures that are likely to offer the best opportunity to improve air quality in the area. 

Reference documents

Air Quality Management Area - The Street, Compton

Guildford Borough Council AQMA Order (No.1) 2018 came into effect on 1 February 2018 and covers a small section of B3000 The Street, Compton.

View a copy of the AQMA Order and site plan (PDF, 73 KB) showing the AQMA boundary.

Compton Air Quality Action Plan 2019

The first draft AQAP (PDF, 1 MB) was published and consulted on in 2017.

Following the consultation on the draft AQAP 2017, the action plan was revised in 2019. The action plan adopted is to implement the ban on right hand turn into Down Lane. View the Compton Air Quality Action Plan 2019 (PDF, 1 MB)

The feasibility study was completed by Buro Happold in two phases.

Phase 1 - Baseline

To establish the current situation in Guildford. The traffic data around the Guildford gyratory was collected through ANPR. The ANPR survey found 68% of cars and 57% vans to be ULEZ compliant (8% below the national average). The study also examined the implemented CAZs and LEZs across the UK cities focusing on how these schemes could inform similar schemes in Guildford.

The report provided an in-depth analysis of the state and usage of the P&Rs pre and post Covid, and therefore highlighted a shift in commuter's behaviour and identifying areas of potential improvements. The analysis highlighted the need for strategies to boost P&R usage and to address the decline in passenger numbers, post-COVID.

Stage 2 - economic feasibility study

The second phase of the feasibility study comprised of the appraisal of the 3 options from the draft AQAP 2022.

These options were:

  1. Introduction of a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) or equivalent
  2. Promotion of travel choices
  3. GBC policies on sustainable transport for staff, visitors and all council activities.

The report concluded limited benefits of implementing a CAZ against high cost of implementation. Instead the focus must be on the measures relevant to the localised hotspot at Park Street as well as measures to promote alternative travel choices through raising awareness, infrastructure improvements and provision of alternative travel choices. 

The full feasibility report is available here for viewing:

Guildford and Shalford Feasibility Study (PDF, 3 MB)
Final Guildford LEZ Deskbased Review (Word doc, 3 MB)

Informed by the findings of the Economic feasibility studies, the Town Centre AQAP is currently being finalised.