A NEW five-year pollution-busting plan has been adopted across West Yorkshire.

One of its first aims is to make sure all parts of the county meet legal air-quality limits by 2020.

West Yorkshire’s five councils have united with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to develop the strategy. Among its other targets are:

  • setting up the ‘clean air zone’ being imposed on Leeds by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) by 2020
  • encouraging the use of cleaner vehicles by providing electric charging points
  • lobbying for electrification of local railways to cut the use of polluting diesel engines
  • replacing and and upgrading buses, which are often high-polluting diesel vehicles
  • enhancing walking and cycling facilities.

Councillor Eric Firth, deputy chairman of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s transport committee, said: “Reducing carbon emissions from transport is a high priority for the Combined Authority and the five district councils.

“While our Low Emission Strategy continues being developed, the Combined Authority is already contributing to reducing air pollution across the Leeds City Region through developments in its transport systems.

“Last year we opened two new rail stations, at Apperley Bridge and Kirkstall Forge, with a third due to open in spring at Low Moor, enabling people from these areas to travel more sustainably.

“To reduce congestion and pollution in Leeds, we have almost doubled the size of our Elland Road park and ride to 800 spaces, with another 1,000-space park and ride due to open in east Leeds in June. Electric vehicles can be charged at both sites.

“We are working closely with local bus operators who have already begun replacing their older vehicles with buses meeting the latest Euro 6 emissions standards.”

Air pollution can cause childhood asthma, cancer, strokes and heart attacks and accounts for an estimated 222 deaths in the district each year.

Bradford Council has been spearheading the new West Yorkshire-wide strategy, after becoming only the second authority in the country to set up its own low emissions strategy some years ago.

But despite this work, it was revealed in December that the number of congestion hotspots in the Bradford district where pollution has reached illegally high levels could be about to nearly double.

The district already has four areas which officially exceed national pollution limits, but three more could soon be added to the list.

These are the former Saltaire roundabout at Bingley Road, Saltaire, the Dudley Hill roundabout at Rooley Lane, Bradford, and the junction of Harrogate Road and Killinghall Road in Undercliffe.