TWO parts of the Spen Valley are set to be declared Air Quality Management Areas after pollution levels were found to be too high.

A decision on both Heckmondwike and Birkenshaw, as well as five other towns and villages in Kirklees where air quality needs to be improved, is expected to be made today.

Pollution officers at Kirklees Council have been regularly monitoring more than 70 locations across the borough. Until now there have been two designated areas, but this looks set to increase to eight where pollution levels are being breached.

One will be removed altogether and another reduced in size, due to pollution levels having been brought down to the required standard.

Heckmondwike Councillor Steve Hall (Lab) welcomed any action to improve the air quality at the busy junction of the A638 with the A62, which is where the hotspot is in the town.

He said: “It’s a very busy junction and there is often a lot of standing traffic. I think any plans that can reduce emissions and standing emissions at junctions like this is a good move.”

In a report to the authority’s cabinet, officers state: “The new AQMAs are as a result of exceedance of annual NO2 [nitrogen dioxide] objectives and the boundaries have been defined through the use of monitoring coupled with air quality modelling.”

It adds: “The boundaries of the AQMAs are based on the monitoring Kirklees officers have undertaken and modelling of the extent of the pollution.”

Declaring such an area is a legal requirement where pollution levels have been shown to exceed the National Air Quality Objectives, which are the pollution limits set by Government to comply with European Union directives on air quality and health.

The report adds: “The declaration of an AQMA is a positive step for the health of the residents of Kirklees as we have identified areas of the borough where there are unacceptable levels of pollution and we can then start the process of action planning to reduce the levels of pollution in these areas to acceptable levels.

“Action planning is the identification and carrying out of steps, locally within the AQMA, on a borough-wide basis or regionally to have a positive impact on the air quality of the areas.”

The full list of new areas are: Birchencliffe, Birkenshaw, Eastborough, Edgerton, Heckmondwike, Huddersfield town centre, and Outlane.

An existing management area in Scout Hill, Dewsbury, is now to be removed, and in Bradley, Huddersfield, the area is to be reduced in size, both due to success in bringing down high pollution levels.

Action plans will need to be drawn up for each of the new AQMAs.