Air quality

As a city with a rich car manufacturing heritage it is perhaps more poignant for Coventry than other cities that the major cause of air pollution today is road transport.

The Council has been carrying out a review and assessment of air quality in line with legal requirements. This involves measuring the levels of pollution in the air and trying to predict how it will change over the next few years.

National air quality objectives have been put in place to protect people's health and the environment, and the aim of the Council is to make sure that these objectives will be achieved.

If the Council finds any places where the objectives will not be met, it is legally obliged to declare an air quality management area (AQMA). The whole city was designated as an AQMA in 2009 for nitrogen dioxide - a gas released by vehicles that is a respiratory irritant and helps forms acid rain.

The declaration of the whole city as an air quality management area allows a more consistent and strategic approach to planning and air quality across the whole city and provides us with more power to tackle problematic areas and help improve the air quality.

In the next few months the Council will be writing an action plan which is intended to compliment the AQMA designation, and reduce emissions and improve air quality within the city limits.