The Environment Agency is driving improvements in air quality, supporting Defra’s Clean Air Strategy and the 2021 Environment Act. We are recruiting a Senior Advisor to lead our regulatory air quality activities, including:
• Leading our Air Quality team, focused on emissions from our regulated industry sectors; working with individual sectors on emissions reductions approaches.
• Providing technical advice to Defra in the development of new air quality policy.
• Working with partner bodies and other regulators to devise common solutions to emissions management and impacts assessment; representing the Environment Agency on air quality issues with external groups.
• Supporting the shaping of future international legislation, e.g. through UK Best Available Techniques, the Defra International Emissions group and National Emissions Group (Gothenburg Protocol revision).
• Reduction of ammonia emissions from our regulated agricultural sector.
• Keeping abreast of and influencing international developments on air quality monitoring and abatement; improving the use of monitoring as a key tool in emission control and assessment;
• Cascading air quality information within the Environment Agency through appropriate training and presentations.
• Providing site-specific advice and support on air quality issues, including particulate abatement, across our regulated sites country-wide.
The team
You will lead the Air Quality component of the Monitoring and Assessment (M&A) team, within the wider Regulatory Resilience team. We are part of the Chief Regulator Group in the national Environment & Business Directorate.
M&A includes teams specialising in environmental noise, and odour/amenity issues; and runs our monitoring certification system, MCERTS. Air Quality staff work closely with our odour colleagues on odour issues, and with our monitoring colleagues on emission monitoring certification.
Experience/skills required
You will have a good understanding of:
• UK and EU air quality legislation, standards and targets; and international conventions and protocols.
• The approach to permitting and regulation of industrial installations, including compliance and enforcement.
• Air quality within the planning system and its interaction with regulation.
Experience will also be welcome in the following areas:
• Monitoring of atmospheric pollutants and the MCERTS certification process
• Measurement and abatement of point source and fugitive pollutants.
• The effects and mitigation of atmospheric ammonia on vegetation
• Atmospheric chemistry
• National and International Standards for air pollution monitoring.
You will be:
• Able to work with a wide range of internal and external customers.
• Confident in providing evidence and technical knowledge to support decision making.
Experienced in delivering technical information in accessible language;
• Skilled at influencing outcomes through effective relationships;
• Comfortable in the management of others.