Council in vow to tackle air pollution

EFFORTS TO tackle air pollution, particularly at hotspots where it could harm people’s health, will be stepped up, following claims residents’ concerns over traffic fumes had been ignored.

North Yorkshire County Council officers said while the authority had limited jurisdiction to address air pollution, it could do more to challenge potential sources of pollution as it considered major, industrial-scale planning applications.

The officers made the admission before the council’s transport, economy and environment scrutiny committee as it examined the authority’s revised Air Quality Strategy.

The strategy follows recent research indicating there are between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths each year in the UK due to human-made air pollution.

The Government’s 2019 Clean Air Strategy set out a commitment to minimise human exposure to harmful concentrations of pollution, representing a change in focus towards tackling smaller sources of air pollution.

Despite this and the council having set a number of climate change targets, the meeting was told no changes had been made to the overall ambition of the strategy, and just minor amendments highlighting car sharing and ebikes, and recognising the impact of moorland burning.

The existing strategy aims to

raise the profile of improving air quality and work with other organisations, ensure improving air quality is a key consideration when planning and delivering services and supporting the use of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles.

A public consultation over the revised strategy had revealed only 46 per cent of the respondents thought it was good and that the county had “clearly visible” pollution hotspots along main roads, such as the A1 and A19, and built-up areas, such as parts of Selby district.