MOVES to clean up the air in parts of South Craven could soon be brought into force.

Environmental health experts are hoping to get permission to buy portable monitoring equipment, which will be used to reveal the quality of air in places such as Silsden, Steeton and Eastburn.

Permanent monitoring sites are already in place in Bradford city centre and are to be installed soon in nearby Keighley.

Environmental health manager Brian Anderson said Bradford Council was now asking for more cash from the Government so it could buy portable equipment to get a better picture of the air quality across the whole of the district.

Under the Environment Act, a set of standards has been set for air quality which must be met by the end of 2006.

Polluting gases such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead are coming from industry and car fumes.

These can irritate people with respiratory problems and also lead to other diseases.

"We know that there is more money available and rather than go for more fixed sites we decided it would be a good idea to get mobile monitoring," said Mr Anderson.

"With a mobile unit we can travel around the district monitoring air quality in various places for several months.

"This will enable us to fill in the gaps between the fixed sites where we don't monitor at the moment, such as Silsden."

Mr Anderson added that the information from the equipment would then be used to decide if work needed to be done to improve air quality.

"We would not just be focusing on traffic, but other matters such as looking at emissions from industry and smoke control problems," he said.

A new group is being formed to co-ordinate this information, which includes people working in many different council departments.

"This is a major step forward and it needs a co-ordinating group so that we can meet regularly and decide what we want to do about air quality," continued Mr Anderson.

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