City road pollution down to safe levels
AIR quality targets in a part of Glasgow busy with traffic have been met.
The lower level of pollution, sustained over a number of years, has led to an Air Quality Management Area ( AQMA) covering the main streets being recommended for revocation.
The Byres Road/ Dumbarton Road area was included as the second zone to be targeted to reduce pollution almost 20 years ago.
High nitrogen dioxide levels were causing concern in 2007 prompting the action plan.
It was included along with Parkhead Cross for targeted measures adding to the city centre zone which was declared five years earlier.
Measures in the action plans included encouraging more environmentally friendly buses, promoting car clubs, active travel and improving the council’s vehicle fleet.
A new report shows that since 2011 levels have been falling and since 2017 the targets have been consistently achieved.
Greener vehicles including private cars and buses have been given as one of the reasons for the improvement.
The zone extended from Queen Margaret Drive to Dumbarton Road and then west for more than a mile to Thornwood Roundabout.
The report states: “Whilst road traffic remains the major emissions source in the AQMA and across the city, improvements in vehicle emissions, and the Air Quality Action Plan actions, have resulted in an overall reduction in emissions and a resulting reduction in air pollution levels.”
Because of the improved results, there has been a decision to apply for the revocation of the AQMA.
The latest report states: “An assessment of measured ambient NO2 concentrations since the declaration of the Byres Road/ Dumbarton Road AQMA in 2007 found a reducing trend in measured annual average concentrations since 2011, such that the annual average concentrations have been below the relevant objective levels for a number of years.”
The air quality will still be monitored using the testing stations to check the lower levels are being maintained.
A city- wide zone was declared in 2012 and revoked in 2016.
The Parkhead AQMA was revoked in 2020.
When the Byres Road/ Dumbarton Road is revoked it will leave the city centre zone, which includes the Low Emission Zone, as the only AQMA in the city.