End of the road for pollution? (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

End of the road for pollution?

5:36pm Wednesday 18th April 2007 in News By Helen Mead

In common with other local authorities across the country, Bradford Council has a legal responsibility to review and assess air quality across the district in the mission to improve public health.

A year ago, an investigation was carried out at 12 sites across the district. Of those, four were identified as having higher levels of the noxious gas nitrogen dioxide (NO2) than were seen as acceptable by the Government under its national air quality strategy.

The zones - a stretch of Thornton Road, the area around the junction of Mayo Avenue and Manchester Road, the Manningham Lane/Queens Road junction, and the junction of Shipley/Airedale Road and Church Bank, were officially designated last summer.

Nitrogen dioxide, a reddish-brown gas which is produced during high temperature burning of fuel in, for example, cars and other road vehicles, heaters and cookers, can irritate the lungs. It plays a major role in atmospheric reactions that produce ground-level ozone, a major component of smog.

"It is a respiratory irritant," says Brian Anderson. "If you are particularly susceptible to respiratory problems it will exacerbate an existing condition. It will not cause asthma, but if you already suffer from it, it can be a trigger."

Three of the zones have one thing in common - all include a busy road junction. And the fourth, Thornton Road, takes in part of a busy road junction.

"The pollution is predominantly caused by congestion," says Mr Anderson. "That is the common factor - there is stationary or slow-moving traffic for significant periods throughout each day."

At each site about 30 homes are affected. Letters were sent to properties in the area, informing them of the results, and letting people know that action is being taken to reduce the levels.

The Council has 12 months to come up with an Air Quality Action Plan for each of the areas, and that plan has to be approved by the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs.

It will be the result of work by environmental health officers working in conjunction with a number of other departments and agencies, including highways, planning, local businesses and local colleges who are carrying out traffic studies.

The plan will include "a whole string of measures". Ideas being examined include ways to keep traffic flowing, which could involve creating bus lanes or re-phasing traffic lights, encouraging greater use of public transport, greater use of school buses, car sharing, cycling and walking for short journeys such as the school run.

"We are talking about having fewer vehicles on the roads," says Mr Anderson, citing the example of Edinburgh, where similar measures have led to a 20 per cent reduction in vehicle numbers.

"On-going improvements in vehicle technology will also help," he adds.

The calculations are refined using a computer model, which takes account of pollution caused by local industry, domestic households and any other sources that might affect air quality.

Continuous air quality monitoring is carried out at three other sites in the district: Fox Corner in Shipley, Bingley Main Street and Keighley Town Hall Square. Levels of the gas are measured using continuous automatic monitors and small diffusion tubes - test tubes with a reactive substance in the bottom which absorbs NO2.

As well as NO2, the monitors record levels of sulphur dioxide and fine particles - minute airborne material from a variety of sources. A further, Government-run monitoring station, at Eastbrook Well, records the same pollutants, as well as carbon monoxide and ozone. About 40 smaller diffusion tubes recording nitrogen dioxide levels are scattered across the district.

"We have four areas to concentrate on, but we cannot forget the rest of the district," says Mr Anderson.

Although it impacts on climate change, levels of carbon dioxide - one of the main greenhouse gases - are not measured as there are no standards set. "As a pollutant in itself it is not a public health issue," says Mr Anderson.

"But if we improve the levels of nitrogen dioxide this will have the knock-on-effect of reducing CO2," he says.

Some policies to improve local air quality often have the added benefit of producing additional carbon savings, and vice versa. These include a shift towards public transport, walking and cycling, which results in lower carbon dioxide emissions.

"It is an on-going process, and a lot of detailed work is being done to improve air quality," adds Mr Anderson.