Clean Air Day 2021 is June 17th – have our councils noticed?

Despite the numbers of air pollution 'hot spots' in Derbyshire having increased with the declaration of an Air Quality Management Area in Ashbourne, both Conservative run District and County Councils seem to have been slow to inform us as to what they are planning to do to help residents have 'cleaner' air. Most significantly how are they planning to protect our children's health from the damaging affects of high levels of nitrogen oxides and particulates. (the theme of this year's 'Clean Air Day'

Despite 'Clean Air Schemes' being a key promise in the Conservative election manifesto for the May 2021 County Council elections, they have been surprisingly coy about announcing where these schemes might be implemented.

Air pollution has been described as an 'invisible threat' - the response of our councils' seems to match that in terms of invisibility!

One might reasonably expect some priority to be given to the two existing Air Quality Management Areas (Ashbourne and Tintwhistle). However to date no Action Plan has been presented for Tintwhistle, despite the AQMA being declared in 2018. Ashbourne's AQMA was only declared this year but high levels of NOx have been reported for some time. Some indication as to what steps DCC Highways are considering would seen to be appropriate on this 'Clean Air Day'.

To find out more about Clean Air Day 2021 and how we can protect out children's health from air pollution follow this link.