For ozone, in addition to the National Standard criteria for an 8 hour running mean greater than or equal to 50 ppb, a day will be in the moderate band if there is a 1 hour mean of 50-89 ppb. The Department will be publishing on Monday 15 January a consultation document setting out proposals to improve the way that information about air pollution is made available to the public. A daily summary of air pollution has been available since 1990. The service has evolved over recent years with the introduction of more monitoring sites and an increase in the number of pollutants being monitored. Information is also provided on the effects of air pollution on health.
Air pollution is described to the public in four bands low, moderate, high and very high .
The Committee agreed the current advice provided in the bulletins on the health effects of air pollution and what susceptible people might do to mitigate these. Following a number of surveys of public opinion, it is proposed to revise the way the bulletin system presents air pollution information. Changes are being made to the bulletin system to take account of the Directive's requirements to provide certain information to the public. It must then draw up an action plan setting out the measures it intends to take in working towards achieving the air quality objectives. There are no statutory deadlines by when local authorities have to complete their reviews and assessments of air quality.