Action plan for polluted town centre

11:32am Friday 10th October 2008

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Nitrogen oxide exceeds target levels A WORKING group could be set up to look into ways of reducing the pollution in Tewkesbury town centre.

A meeting of the borough council’s executive committee heard last week that levels of nitrogen oxide in the High Street exceed current national target levels.

This means that the area has to be declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) and an action plan put in place to reduce the pollution.

The area covered by the plan will be bordered by the High Street from the Cross to its junction with Oldbury Road, Barton Street from Jubilee Way to the Cross and Church Street from the Cross to the other end of Jubilee Way, and the whole of Jubilee Way.

The order designating it as an AQMA will come into effect on December 5.

In the meantime the council is setting up a working group to look into different ways of solving the problem.

Members of the town coun-cil, the chamber of commerce, Tewkesbury Traders, the civic society and major employers will be invited to join the group, along with borough and county councillors and offic-ers and any other groups or individuals who may be required.

Coun Gordon Shurmer, the borough council’s lead member for stronger and healthier communities, said: “We will be doing all we can to drive these figures down.”

The director of development, Chris Shaw said the problem had been caused in part by the stricter enforcement of park-ing regulations in the town centre, which allows more people to park for shorter periods.

“It has made the town centre a much more pleasant place to be, but it has not worked from the pollution point of view, as it means a lot more vehicles coming and going,” he said.

The proposal for the working group will be put to the next meeting of the full council on October 28.