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05
Apr 2024
Council to revoke two air quality areas in Harrogate district
North Yorkshire Council is set to remove two air quality management areas in the Harrogate district after levels of nitrogen dioxide dropped.
The council currently monitors air pollution on Low and High Skellgate in Ripon and York Place in Knaresborough.
Both management areas were introduced to review levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which are caused by traffic levels.
Monitoring of NO2 has been in place on Skellgate in Ripon since 2010 and on York Place in Knaresborough since 2017.
Both were declared after beaching the legal limit of 40 micrograms of annual NO2 per cubic metre of air.
However, a report due before the council’s transport, economy, environment and overview scrutiny committee on April 10 says both air quality management areas are due to be revoked.
It said the areas had not breached the limit for more than five years and are now planned to be removed.
In its annual air quality report in 2023, the council said the Ripon management area had gone six years under the limit.
It said:
Read more:
- Air pollution at Bond End in Knaresborough meets legal limits for first time
- Air pollution risks from Harrogate’s wood-burning stoves ‘cannot be ignored’
Meanwhile, air quality management areas in Harrogate on Wetherby Road and Bond End in Knaresborough are set to remain in place.
Both were implemented for breaching the limit for NO2.
However, despite both areas being under the 40 micrograms for this year, the council intends to keep them in place.
The UK government requires local authorities to take action to improve areas with particularly bad air pollution.
In September 2018, North Yorkshire County Council replaced traffic lights at Bond End with a double mini-roundabout to reduce congestion and improve the flow of traffic.
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