Breathe easy

Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) in Stratford District are soon to be declared following the discovery of a few isolated small pockets of pollution above acceptable levels.

Car queuing and congestion at these hotspots in Stratford town and Henley-in-Arden have been highlighted as the problem by Stratford-on-Avon District Councils environmental health officers who monitor air quality across the District.

The AQMAs are set up in response to a fall in quality of air in these locations; the District Councils next form of action is to consult with the public and town/parish councils following which remedial action specific to the needs of the area will be planned and carried out.

Proactive action on matters such as air quality is important, as in this case the pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, is an aggravator (but not the cause) of respiratory conditions such as asthma.

Stratford District is lucky enough to benefit from above average air quality. However the District Council takes even small dips in acceptable levels of air quality seriously and wants to see fast action taken at these small areas to ensure levels of pollutants are reduced, says Councillor Simon Jackson, Portfolio Holder for Environment.

We are starting by consulting the public on the extent of the boundaries of the Air Quality Management Areas we will be designating. After that we will be working with Warwickshire County Council and all other interested bodies to improve the quality of the air in the affected areas and to maintain the highest possible standards across the whole of our District.

The public will be kept informed at every stage of the process. Details will be publicised using local media and can be found at www.stratford.gov.uk over the next few weeks.

Notes
Air quality in South Warwickshire is generally good but detailed assessments across the area have shown that a number of small areas in Stratford and one in Henley-in-Arden are not meeting national standards set under the Environment Act 1995.

Air quality has been monitored continuously for the past eight years at 27 different locations across the councils area and the results showed that the levels of nitrogen dioxide at 5 of those locations were likely to exceed the accepted annual average level. Subsequent detailed assessments confirmed queuing traffic and congestion to be the causes of the localised elevated levels observed at those so-called air quality hotspots.

Nitrogen dioxide, a gas produced primarily by combustion processes, is known to increase the risk of respiratory infections and to aggravate conditions such as asthma, though not to cause them.