Friday 30 April 2010

AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT AREA FOR ST. LAWRENCE

St. Lawrence is to be declared an Air Quality Management Area to help tackle air pollution in the area.

The decision was taken last night (Thursday 29 April) by Cabinet Members, after they were told that the area in and around the roundabout at St. Lawrence High Street had failed to reach government guidelines for nitrogen dioxide.

Further monitoring will now be carried out to see what improvements can be made to the air quality in the area. The council has already received funding from the government to install an air quality monitoring station in St. Lawrence, which will help with this process.

An action plan will then be drawn up by specialist consultants, who will look at issues such as traffic flows, in consultation with the local community. This action plan will also look at Thanet's other Air Quality Management Area, which is the area around the Square in Birchington, as the poor air quality there is also thought to be as a result of traffic problems.

Senior Environmental Protection Officer, Amanda Berry, said: "Now that the Air Quality Management Area has been declared around St. Lawrence High Street, we'll be looking further into the causes of this problem. We'll be carrying out more monitoring over the next few months to look at what action we can take in the future to help improve the air quality in this area."

Up to date pollution levels and air quality reports can be viewed at www.kentair.org.uk

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