Drive for better air quality gathering pace
THE drive to see clean air and minimal pollution in Macclesfield has seen the adoption of an air quality strategy.
Currently there are four pollution hotspots - designated Air Quality Management Areas - in the town, making it the worst affected area in Cheshire East.
The strategy covers the monitoring of air pollutants; assessing new developments for impact on air quality; improving public awareness; assessment of road schemes; and assessment of industrial processes.
It will be applied across all planning and transport decision making and will be a joint approach, in conjunction with external organisations, stakeholders, partners and community groups.
Cheshire East Council has 18 AQMAs in place to monitor air quality.
The four in Macclesfield encompass the A523 London Road from the Mill Lane/Silk Road junction in the north to approximately 65m south of the London Road Terrace junction in the south, plus stretches of Park Lane, Broken Cross, and Hibel Road.
Cheshire East Council (CEC) say more electric vehicles and charging points, designated routes for heavy goods vehicles and an anti-idling campaign, to reduce engine emissions, are just some of the objectives they will seek to deliver.
The strategy – adopted by the council’s cabinet last week – will ensure that air quality is always properly considered when relevant planning decisions are taken.
It states that all developers should contribute to an air quality action plan through a formula based on the size of the housing scheme and car parking spaces.
Coun Ainsley Arnold, CEC cabinet member for planning, said the ‘extremely important’ strategy document will inform and influence all future planning decisions and infrastructure development. He said: “Much, if not all contributors to poor air quality in Cheshire East, is a result of traffic emissions and it is right that our residents are aware that we are closely monitoring parts of the borough impacted by poor air quality and that we are taking steps to address this.”
Coun Liz Wardlaw, cabinet member for health, said: “The borough, as a whole, does not have a problem with poor air quality when compared to the inner-cities but we do have pockets of heavilytrafficked roads, where there are unacceptable levels of pollutants, which can lead to health issues.”