Council announces measures to improve air quality

A council said it was taking measures to tackle poor air quality near a bus station after pollution levels were found to exceed national limits.

West Northamptonshire Council said monitoring in the Bradshaw Street area of Northampton showed a need for a new Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) close to North Gate Bus Station.

Government funding has now been secured to introduce 51 electric buses into the local network, which the council expects to "significantly improve" air quality around the bus station.

Matt Golby, Conservative deputy leader of the council, said: "We're committed to improving air quality across the area and enhancing the health and wellbeing of our residents."

He said the introduction of the AQMA in Bradshaw Street was due to vehicle emissions.

"As an authority, we're working on a range of actions and initiatives to reduce pollution in that area and wider West Northants," he added.

There has been concern about the high levels of pollution in Northampton for several years.

In 2022, the town was named in a study by Housefresh, an independent publication focused on air quality, as the worst area for air pollution in the country, with residents inhaling the equivalent of 189 cigarettes a year.

The town has seven air quality management areas, where quality standards are not being met.

Campaigners have staged several protests in their push for more action against pollution.

They presented councillors at one meeting with "death certificates" for residents whose demise, they claimed, would be hastened by poor air quality, and turned up at another wearing gas masks.

Since December 1997 each local authority in the UK has carried out an annual review and assessment of air quality in their area.

Air quality across West Northamptonshire is improving, with two AQMAs recently removed after three years of reduced pollution levels.

These areas include the M1 between junctions 15 and 15A and another near the A45 and London Road.

The West Northamptonshire Air Quality Action Plan, approved by Defra in October, outlines measures shaped by residents, businesses and stakeholders to combat pollution.

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