Nitrogen dioxide levels have risen in Brighton and Hove over the past two years, according to the council.
Last year concentrations remained above the NO2 legal limit at some roadside locations in Central Brighton and Portslade.
Air quality is measured continuously in Preston Park, Brighton, and outside Hove Town Hall and indicate small increases. Mobile monitors elsewhere showed increased NO2 levels in many streets.
Brighton and Hove City Council said that it had published its second Air Quality Action Plan to tackle the problem.
The plan includes a comprehensive set of measures and recommendations aimed at improving air quality in the area.
Councillor Ian Davey, the council’s cabinet member for transport and the public realm, said: “This report shows how serious the problems with traffic-related air pollution are in the city.
“Far from improving, air quality in some areas is clearly getting worse.
“Addressing the cause of these problems is a priority for this administration.
Quick start
“We are delighted that the success of the bid to the government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund has given us £4 million to spend in the Lewes Road corridor which gives us an opportunity to make a quick start in one of the worst-affected areas.”
Together with external partnership and council funds, plus support from the local community, the Lewes Road Corridor project will be worth about £6 million over four years. Work is expected to begin this year.
The council is also linking air quality into its Local Transport Plan and will promote the use of electric cars among other initiatives.
The council said that there had been progress in providing travel choice in the city.
But it said that a number of other measures would need to be implemented if the EU and English limits for Nitrogen Dioxide were to be met.
Brighton and Hove’s second Air Quality Action Plan follows a 12-week public consultation.
The council said that since 2007 some local road links had shown evidence of a decline in total traffic tallies.
It added that the increase in ambient NO2 in Brighton and Hove was likely to be due to the following contributory factors
- An ageing vehicle fleet on the road
- A higher proportion of diesel vehicles that show no real performance improvement in emissions of NO and NO2
- A higher proportion of older petrol vehicles with catalytic converters that perform less well with time
- Higher regional background Nitrogen Dioxide across South East England
- A higher domestic and commercial heating demand during the past two winters (2009-10 and 2010-11) and consequently a higher total emission from wood-burning and gas-fired central heating systems
ooohh .. I do love a good ‘consultation’. What-d-ya-recon… Congestion Charging… Higher Parking Charges… Banning Cars during specific times or areas… ‘other [tax raising] initiatives’ !!!