Air Quality Monitoring in the Dover District
We are part of the Kent Air Quality Partnership, which was established in 1992 to work towards improving the quality of Kent's air. The Partnership is made up of representatives from each district's transport, planning and environment departments, Kent County Council, the Environment Agency, National Power and other stakeholders related to air quality issues.
Ricardo Energy & Environment manage the Kent & Medway monitoring network throughout the County. The monitoring enables us to pinpoint problem areas such as congested roads or highly polluting industrial processes. It can be estimated how much pollution is attributable to local sources and how much is imported from Continental Europe.
Dover Council are currently working on a revised updated Air Quality Action Plan. Once the final Plan is complete and accepted by Defra, the Plan will be adopted.
Daily reports are published on levels of six pollutants:
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carbon monoxide
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ozone
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nitrogen dioxide
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fine particles
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sulphur dioxide
Through DEFRA funding, the Kent & Medway Air Quality Partnership has produced a new central resource for learning about how air pollution affects our health.
The Clean Air Academy ‘Digital Resource’ has been designed for healthcare professionals and members of the community to learn how to identify, address, and alleviate the issues that could be affecting your health, as well as empower people with the knowledge so they may contribute towards the building of a healthier society.
Air Quality Reports
Annual Status Report 2026
We have examined the results from air pollution monitoring in the district for the monitoring year 2025. During 2025, there were no exceedances of the relevant annual mean AQS Objective for either NO2 or PM10 across Dover district. The concentrations at most sites across the NO2 diffusion tube network decreased compared to 2024. Comparing with COVID-19 years, 2025 concentrations were decreased at 15 out of 17 sites when compared to 2024 data.
The High St/Ladywell AQMA has now been compliant for six consecutive years with measured NO2 consistently below 10% of the annual mean AQS objective over these years. The revocation report for the AQMA was presented and approved by Cabinet on 13th April 2026. The AQMA was revoked in May 2026.
There is currently no monitoring undertaken for PM2.5 within the district. However, the annual mean PM2.5 concentration at Dover Centre in 2025 was estimated in accordance with the methodology presented in LAQM.TG(22) to be 7.9 μg/m3 , which is below the PM2.5 annual mean AQS Objective of 20μg/m3.
The ASR has been signed off by Ellen Schwartz, the Deputy Director of Public Health.
Air Quality Action Plan
Dover Council completed the updated Air Quality Action Plan in 2024 which is published below.
On the 17th of July 2024 our Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) for 2024-2028 was formally adopted by Dover District Council. The AQAP looks for Dover District Council to work with our partners to improve air quality across the district by focusing on five broad topics:
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Priority 1- Transport- Provision of additional transport infrastructure; changes to road layout or operation; formulation of traffic plans with the aim being to encourage the use of greener modes of transport, and/or reduce congestion and associated vehicle emissions.
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Priority 2- Behavioural Change- Encouragement of wider behavioural changes in local population with respect to their travel choices, raise awareness and educate members of the public on the impact of air pollution.
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Priority 3- Strategies and Policy Guidance- Working with partners and stakeholders to direct the use of legislation and targeted enforcement to control air pollution.
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Priority 4- Planning and Infrastructure- Mitigate potential air quality impacts effectively by being involved in decision making early on for future developments required to support the growth of DDC.
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Priority 5- Air Quality Monitoring (Evidence for Improvement)- Ensure satisfactory air quality monitoring data is available to track outcomes of the implemented AQAP measures.
In accordance with Defra guidance, the Council will transpose the AQ Action Plan into an AQ Strategy during 2026 for completion and adoption in 2027.
The Dover District Local Plan was submitted for examination on Friday 31st of March 2023. The Council consultation on Main Modifications ran from 11th April – 24th May 2024. The Local Plan then was adopted on 16th October 2024. The impacts of Brexit upon the port will continue to be a key influence in the coming years and any decisions made will be assessed in terms of the air quality impacts within Dover.
Air Quality Management Areas
Environmental Permitting
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 introduced measures to reduce and control emissions to air, land and water from specified industrial processes and now the operators of specified installations are required to obtain a permit to operate.
Please click on the below to take you to our Environmental Permitting webpage.
Garden Bonfires
Garden bonfires produce smoke which contains carbon monoxide and toxic fumes and can ruin a neighbour's enjoyment of their garden, prevent windows being opened and prevent them hanging out their washing.
Please click on the below to take you to our garden bonfires webpage.
General Enquiries
Should you have an enquiry in relation to Air Pollution or Air Quality Monitoring please use the reporting form on the following link: