West Berkshire Council receives split of Government air quality improvement funding
FUNDING to improve air quality around schools in West Berkshire has been awarded.
The Public Protection Partnership (PPP) has been awarded £259,000 from the Defra Air Quality grant programme to improve air quality across West Berkshire, Wokingham and Bracknell council areas.
The funding will set up anti-idling areas and run an anti-idling behaviour change campaign involving schools, taxis ranks and car/van/lorry users across the three authorities.
West Berkshire Council spokeswoman Peta Stoddart-Crompton said: “The project has not been split specifically by local authority area but will essentially be delivered proportionally across the three areas.
“The focus is on schools predominantly in or near to our air quality management areas but will cover other schools where there may be other known issues or concerns and also locations to obtain background and control measurements.”
The PPP said the funding would support climate change action plans and anti-idling projects.
It said: “Across all three authority areas residents benefit from some of the best countryside, forest and parklands in the country and generally good levels of air quality.
“However, through our monitoring of the pollutant nitrogen dioxide we know that there are some localised areas of vehicle related pollution at an undesirable level. These are known as Air Quality Management Areas.”
West Berkshire has two management areas, one at Newbury’s Burger King roundabout and the other at Chapel Street in Thatcham.
The PPP said that the pollutant PM2.5, known to be particularly harmful to health, could be affecting some residents and the funding would allow it to carry out a substantial monitoring regime for PM2.5 around schools in and near air quality management areas.
It added: “This monitoring will give us an understanding of pollution levels in the area, support our work with schools, find site specific ways to reduce the levels of PM2.5 and allow the impact of our projects to be assessed.
“Behavioural change is a key part of this project delivered through a variety of techniques.”
Air quality monitoring has continued throughout the pandemic, which the PPP said had enabled it to look at the impact of the changes that had taken place in transport-related pollution during this time.
