How Much Does an Air Quality Assessment Cost?
If you're pricing up a planning application, the air quality assessment cost is one of those figures that's surprisingly hard to pin down online. You'll see everything from a couple of hundred pounds to several thousand, and both can be correct depending on what your site actually needs. The honest answer is that it depends on the type of assessment your local planning authority requires, where your site sits, and how much technical modelling is involved. This page walks through the real price drivers so you can budget sensibly and avoid paying for more (or less) than your application needs.
At Air & Flood Consultants, our air quality assessments start from £650 for simpler, qualitative work, with fixed fees agreed up front so there are no surprises once we're underway.
The two main tiers and what they cost
Almost every air quality assessment for planning falls into one of two categories, and the gap between them is the single biggest factor in your fee.
Basic (qualitative) air quality assessment
A basic assessment is desk-based. Sometimes it's called an air quality statement or a qualitative impact assessment, and it's the right tool for minor developments, smaller residential schemes, and sites that fall inside an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) or a London Air Quality Focus Area (AQFA) but don't generate substantial new traffic or emissions.
The consultant reviews background pollution data, looks at the local monitoring picture, considers the proposal against the relevant IAQM/EPUK guidance and national policy, and produces a written assessment with conclusions and any mitigation. There's no bespoke computer modelling, which is why this tier is the more affordable one. For straightforward sites, this is where our reports begin at £650.
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Detailed assessment with dispersion modelling
A detailed assessment is a different piece of work. For major developments (broadly more than 10 dwellings or over 1,000 sqm of commercial floorspace) and for sites with significant traffic or emission sources, the local authority will usually expect dispersion modelling using a package such as ADMS.
This means building a model of the site and surrounding roads, feeding in traffic data, applying local meteorological data, and running predictions of pollutant concentrations at sensitive receptors. The modelling effort, the cost of the data inputs, and the time spent verifying and reporting the results all push the fee higher - starting from £1,550. A detailed assessment is a substantial technical exercise, and the price reflects that.
What actually drives the price
Beyond the basic-versus-detailed split, several factors move a fee up or down.
- Site location. A site inside or close to an AQMA or AQFA tends to need more careful treatment, and sometimes a higher tier of assessment, because air quality is already a known concern.
- Scale of development. More dwellings or floorspace usually means more traffic, more receptors, and a stronger case for detailed modelling.
- Number of receptors. Each home, school or care home you're assessing concentrations at adds to the modelling and reporting workload.
- Traffic data. If your scheme triggers a traffic-based assessment, the consultant needs trip generation figures and traffic flows. Where good data already exists from a transport assessment, that keeps costs down; where it has to be sourced or estimated, it adds time.
- Additional reports. Many applications need more than one air quality deliverable. A construction dust risk assessment is frequently requested for demolition and build phases, and in the capital you may also need an Air Quality Neutral assessment covering both building and transport emissions. Each is a separate piece of work with its own fee, though bundling them together is usually more economical than commissioning them piecemeal.
What a proper fee should include
A fee worth paying covers more than just a document landing in your inbox. When we quote, the price includes reviewing the local validation requirements, gathering and interpreting the relevant background and monitoring data, carrying out the assessment to the appropriate standard, and writing it up in a format the planning authority will accept. It should also include reasonable responses to questions from the case officer or Environmental Health team, because a report sometimes needs a short clarification after submission. Ask any consultant what's in and out of scope before you commit, so you're comparing like with like.
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Why the cheapest report can be the most expensive
It's tempting to pick the lowest number, but a thin or generic air quality assessment that gets rejected at validation, or queried by Environmental Health, can cost you far more than the saving. You then face delay, possibly a second assessment, and the knock-on effect on your build programme. The point of the report is to satisfy the planning authority first time. A fee that looks slightly higher but reflects the work the site genuinely needs is usually the cheaper route once you account for the risk of a refusal or a holding objection.
Fixed fees and fast turnaround
We work to fixed, competitive fees agreed before we start, so the air quality assessment cost you're quoted is the one you pay. We're trusted by architects, developers and planning consultants who need reliable reports on a sensible timescale, and we'll tell you honestly which tier of assessment your application actually requires rather than upselling you into modelling you don't need.
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Get in Touch
If you'd like a fixed, competitive fee for your scheme, send us the site address and a brief description of the development and we'll come back with a clear price.
Get in touch to discuss your site and receive a quote.
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