Call for action over pollution in the city - The Worcester Observer

Call for action over pollution in the city

Worcester Editorial 14th Aug, 2020   0

GREEN campaigners have called for more to be done after a Friends of the Earth report revealed three city areas have dangerous levels of pollution with a further nine very close to breaching Government air quality targets.

Traffic hotspots The Butts, The Tything and Rainbow Hill/Astwood Road all recorded high levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air throughout last year with all three above the average 40 micrograms per cubic metre limit set by the Government and World Health Organisation.

According to the report, the highest reading in The Butts last year was a whopping 70 in November and the area only came close to falling below the 40 benchmark once. Meanwhile The Tything had readings of 61.1 in January, 70 in November and never went below 43 all year.

The Butts recorded an average of 42.11, down from 52.43 in 2018, while the Tything recorded an average of 41.75 – down from 47.21 in 2018.




Astwood Road and Rainbow Hill crept into the top three with an average of 40.01 but a number of other busy routes in the city are threatening the Government’s own targets. Levels on Upper Tything averaged 39.89 according to the report while Bridge Street and the area around Shaw Street, Sansome Street and Foregate Street saw averages of 38.62 and 38.39 respectively.

Green Party Coun Neil Laurenson said: “Most of the emissions in Worcester come from cars. 72 per cent of journeys in Worcester are under five miles and 50 per cent are under two miles.


“It’s obvious to improve air quality in the city we need to make it more appealing for people to walk and cycle.

“Worcester City Council has declared its intention to make the city carbon neutral by 2030, which would also mean improved air quality. We need Worcestershire County Council to be on board with this too,” he added.

A city council spokesperson said: “Worcester’s air quality is monitored by us and it’s our data which has been included in this Friends of the Earth report. Tackling this important issue requires a city-wide approach, which is why we took the step of declaring the whole of Worcester as an Air Quality Management Area in June last year.

“An Air Quality Action Plan has been drawn up and the City Council is working with partners to implement a number of actions to reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide.

“We continue to monitor air quality in the city and regularly report our findings to the Government. We have also recently developed a draft Environmental Sustainability Strategy, setting out options to enable Worcester to become carbon neutral by 2030.”

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