Five Shropshire areas named in air pollution findings
Tuesday 27th September 2011, 9:00PM BST.
Five areas of Shropshire have been highlighted as the worst in the county for air pollution.
Shrewsbury town centre, Heathgates in Shrewsbury, Bayston Hill, Oswestry and Bridgnorth have all been identified by Shropshire Council as having ‘unacceptable’ levels of pollutants resulting in poor air quality. The levels of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide are so high that they are ‘likely’ to exceed European standards.
This is according to a document handed out to the public as part of Shropshire Council’s World Environmental Health Day, held at Shirehall in Shrewsbury yesterday.
“Where the air quality is identified as unacceptable, further detailed monitoring is undertaken and currently there are five locations in Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Bayston Hill where air pollutants are monitored using continuous real-time analysers to provide hourly data,” it says.
“Where the air quality is likely to exceed European standards the council declares Air Quality Management Areas and develops action plans to improve air quality. There are currently five such areas in Shropshire in Shrewsbury town centre, Bayston Hill, Heathgates, Oswestry and Bridgnorth.”
The report added that if poor air quality was left unchecked, it could lead to serious health problems and was potentially fatal for those exposed to it.
It adds: “Air pollution has been linked to asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart and circulatory disease, and cancer. It is estimated that air pollution causes around 35,000 early deaths per year in the UK, reduces life expectancy on average by up to eight months and costs between £8 and 20 billion.”
More details of the effects of the issue on the county will soon be made public, after the Air Quality Progress Report 2009/10 for Shropshire is presented to the council’s cabinet.
Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for environmental health, said: “Air pollution is a problem indoors and outdoors, with causes ranging from the traffic on our roads to second-hand smoke from tobacco products.
“Extensive work takes place in Shropshire to monitor air quality and protect people from air pollution, including running air quality management areas, monitoring stations, using measuring equipment in town centres and measuring emissions from vehicles.”
By Chris Burn
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Councillor Charmley, got to work in your car did you?? and all the staff needed to make this report?
Sounds like the boy’s justifying there existence with ”This is according to a document handed out to the public as part of Shropshire Council’s World Environmental Health Day, held at Shirehall in Shrewsbury yesterday”.
How many manhours was wasted producing this report and WHO paid for it?
Amazing what you can make statistics say when you want to.
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Just noticed your report, Councillor Charmley,was part of Shropshire’s World Environment Day.
What is that all about???
Spoke to friends in Wolverhampton and Birmingham and they aren’t aware of a World Environment Day in either City and we haven’t had one here in Spain either.
Is it just in your little meaningless world Councillor.
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Another bitter ex pat who whines about the uk but can’t stay away from it’s media outlets. Why are you so bothered about taxpayers money, it’s not your problem anymore.Don’t get coming back here when you need the nhs.
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Well said Mr Flag.
If you don’t live in this country you don’t have the right to snipe at it.
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World Environment Day is a UN initiative. In Spain it is called Dia Mundial Del Mundio Ambiente. The next one is 5 June 12. Contact your ayuntamiento for details.
No, I am nothing to do with the council
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Back 24 years ago i took a job for 8 months as a milkman and did Bayston hill, first thing in the morning at around 5am the place stank of heating oil as peoples heating system kicked in, you couldn’t smell anything else.
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One of the main problems with Bridgnorth is the fall out of fine particles from the aluminium factory(s). There is a fine coating on cars, houses etc in low town which must move towards high town too.
This will only be exacerbated with the introdution of the recycling centre opposite the aforementioned.
So what will SCC’s action plan be for these polluters?
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I’ve never noticed this fine coating. Maybe the number of people switching back to coal fire’s and log burners may have something to do with this???? Or the fact that Bridgnorth has one of few stream trains still operating in the UK.
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I am sure if you spoke to people on Lodge Lane and surrounding streets they would disagree with you.
It is something they have lived with for years, just ask them!
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Is the monitoring station in Bridgnorth that green cabinet alongside the busy main road in Lowtown, opposite Lasyard House, where there are very few pedestrians and little or no residential development, not far from the Severn Valley Railway station (which burns a lot of coal) and effectively located in a gully where pollutants are quite likely to accumulate?
If so, it’s hardly representative, is it?!
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Why doesn’t somebody ask Arriva just how many of their vehicles in and around Shrewsbury would EVEN be allowed to operate in London under the London Emission Zone (LEZ)?
The farmers still spray their fields with evil smelling manure (Bayston Hill over last weekend) This is 2011 and there must an alternative or at least a restriction to use from an Environmental Health point of view?
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Sadly mate all their tired out old buses which enlightened councils like notts and london has BANNED have been bought up to shropshire and run around to pollute us instead!
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So why are the adding to the problem with an incinerator then ??? thick or what
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Why stink two places when you can build in a place that already does?
Simples!
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I was starting to believe that the Council may have come up with a cunning plan and that the recently £165,000 altered weed infested Heathgates Island had actually been designed to help absorb the pollution in the area.However further work is now being undertaken on the island but the questions are threefold :-
Why ? Cost ? and who is footing the bill i.e.Shropshire Council or the original contractor ?
A response from a Councillor would be appreciated before a FOI request is made.
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Well, I am asthmatic, I used to ive in the South of our beautiful county, I now live in Oswestry equally beautiful in my opinion, and my breathing has never been better. did these reports get written next to the A5 or A49 by any chance?
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Surely we should include the immediate area around the Shirehall in Shrewsbury as a zone of pollution.
On any strike day there is the distinct smell of hot and lefty gas.
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