The latest (draft) air quality figures for Portsmouth have just been published. I’ve updated my CAPIT map tool with the new figures.
My first impression is that sites with long term readings are about the same as 2017, for example London Road remains about the same. Known problem areas of Queens Road, St Michael’s gyratory and the bottom of M275 are back out of compliance. However, the expanding monitoring introduced recently have picked up several new locations that are out of compliance (above 40ug/m3). This includes Albert Road, Market Way (behind Cascades) and Fratton Bridge. The busy road by the Catholic Cathedral has a very high NO2 level of 50ug/m3. Areas barely within compliance including the top of Milton Market, the junction at the bottom of Velder Avenue, Cosham (Northern Road & Tudor Crescent) and Port Solent.
Mike Dobson says:
The draft report will be embarrassing for PCC. Last year PCC used flawed analysis and ignored its own guidance to ‘adjust’ the NO2 readings in Lord Montgomery Way (AQMA7) to inaccurately report to DEFRA that air pollution had reduced below the 40 micrograms/m3 legal limit to 38.80. The correct figure (bias adjusted and annualised) should have been 40.82 i.e. illegally high. This year PCC has reported that the NO2 air pollution reading is 42.98 (getting worse) yet still uses inappropriate straight line analysis to make the dubious assertion that air pollution measured over the last 5 years is decreasing in the long term.
June 17, 2019 — 10:17 am