Air quality equipment installed in Shoreham High Street is set to be upgraded as Adur District Council vows to keep up the fight on pollution.
The Council took the decision to install replacement equipment on the A259 coast road, replacing an old faulty monitoring station.
There is no regulatory requirement on the council to carry out continuous monitoring of pollution. However, once the new kit is up and running, councillors believe it will be money well spent if it can shine a light on the wider issue.
Councillor Dave Simmons, Adur District Council’s Executive Member for Health & Wellbeing, said: “Air pollution is a real concern across the country, so it is important that locally we do what we can to ensure it does not adversely affect our residents.
“This equipment means that we will have regular readings, giving us vital intelligence from which we can create a detailed plan of action to keep people in our communities fit and healthy.
“We cannot tackle this issue alone and I will continue to press West Sussex County Council, Highways England, and our other partners and MPs to ensure that it remains high on the agenda for decision makers.”
Due to the narrow nature of this main arterial road, air pollution has been an issue on the High Street for a number of years.
Ad hoc monitoring back in 2003 showed that Nitrogen Dioxide levels in the road were likely to exceed the national objectives.
In 2005 an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) was declared along this stretch of the A259 with the council setting out plans on how it would improve the air quality.
Recent further testing suggests that Nitrogen Dioxide levels have now dropped below the national objectives – leading to government officials recommending the AQMA in the High Street be revoked.
But, due to a number of proposed developments coming forward in Shoreham, Adur council officials recommended it remain, so the full impact can be assessed in future years. This decision was endorsed by government officials.
Monitoring results will be used alongside other local and national evidence to help update the council’s air quality action plan, which is being revised this year.
The council also works with other Sussex authorities and West Sussex Public Health through a county-wide partnership known as Sussex-air to determine a wider partnership approach to reducing emissions and concentrations as per Government guidance.
