Street is revealed as town’s most polluted

THE MOST polluted street in Bridgend has been revealed – and it will come as little surprise to those stuck in traffic on it every day.

Air pollution limits are being breached on Park Street with nitrogen dioxide levels above the national air quality objectives.

It means the road needs to be declared as an Air Quality Management Area.

As a result Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) is required to prepare an action plan setting out measures it intends to put in place to improve air quality.

Measures could include junction/ traffic signal improvements with Tondu Road, wider transportation improvements across Bridgend, access restrictions and improved monitoring.

It will be the county’s Quality Management Area.

At a recent cabinet meeting officers said the problem was mainly first Air down to congestion on the road which is on an incline.

They told councillors they plan to move a mobile station which provides live data on air quality from Ewenny Cross Roundabout to Park Street.

The unit which is capable of providing continuous 15 minute averages of nitrogen dioxide concentrations is also equipped with a meteorological station so that local weather data can be gathered for use in conjunction with the air quality data.

The results are based on data collected in 2017 but officers say data from this year already shows high figures and the likelihood of further breaches of the air quality objectives set for nitrogen dioxide.

Park Street, Coity Road, Cowbridge Road and Bridgend town centre’s Market Street were among the new sites to be monitored last year.

This year monitoring for nitrogen dioxide has been increased further along Park Street, from three to five sites.

Officers choose which sites are monitored based on known areas of high traffic flows, new traffic management systems and developments.

In 2017 the local authority operated 30 non automatic monitoring sites in Bridgend which monitor levels of nitrogen dioxide.

Its two automatic air quality monitoring sites are located at Ewenny Cross Roundabout and Rockwool Ltd.

The two sites monitor on a 24/7 basis measuring levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.

The legal limit for nitrogen dioxide emissions is 40 g/m3.

On one location in Park Street, by Cae Dre St, the annual average levels were 41.5 g/m3 and in another closeby, it was 37.6 g/m3.

At the meeting on September 18 officers told councillors all other monitoring locations in Bridgend complied with the air quality objectives.

Shared Regulatory Services carry out the monitoring of ambient air quality for nitrogen dioxide on behalf of BCBC.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to manage local air quality.