Newcastle City Council has published its feasibility study for a Charging Clean Air Zone. This shows that, other than in a few locations, air quality can be improved to be within legal limits by 2021, sixteen years after they should first have been met. Although this is welcome progress, it does mean Newcastle has missed the deadline set by Government to produce a final plan by the end of December 2018. Read more [...] Your Right to Clean Air
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Newcastle City Council has published its feasibility study for a Charging Clean Air Zone. This shows that, other than in a few locations, air quality can be improved to be within legal limits by 2021, sixteen years after they should first have been met. Although this is welcome progress, it does mean Newcastle has missed the deadline set by Government to produce a final plan by the end of December 2018. Read more [...] 
Newcastle has suffered from illegal levels of air pollution for many years. In this Air Quality Timeline we trace the developments that enabled a massive growth of traffic in the city and the lack of action that means we still suffer from poor air quality today. 
In our last blog we shared the results of the 2017 Council air quality monitoring, showing that Gosforth High Street had the highest recorded nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution in the whole of Newcastle.
In this blog, we take a look at three key questions that came up in discussion following release of the 2017 air pollution figures. 
If you live in the former East or West Gosforth council wards or in Parklands ward, you should have had a survey leaflet through your door. Please tell your friends, family and neighbours about the survey and ask them to do it too. The more people who take part, the better the picture we will have of Gosforth as a whole. The closing date for the survey is Sunday 25 November. 
The Council has just released its Air Quality Annual Status Report 2018 and it is not looking good for Gosforth High Street. We had expected that the 2016 reading of 51μg/m3 for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) was a one-off due to the roadworks at the junction with Salters Road, but in 2017 the figure had increased again to 59μg/m3.. Both are substantially higher than the legal maximum of 40μg/m3. 
Dr Chris Stenton FRCP FFOM
Dr Stenton is a Consultant Physician at the RVI Newcastle. His main interest is in work-related lung disease, particularly asthma, COPD and asbestosis.
Here he looks at some of the history, causes and effects of atmospheric air pollution. He also considers some of the emerging evidence on several insidious consequences air pollution is connected with.
In my work as a chest physician I see patients with many different types of lung conditions. Almost all lung 
SPACE for Gosforth submitted evidence and feedback to several consultations in 2017. Here is our November 2017 response to the joint inquiry by the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Environmental Audit, Health, and Transport Committees into improving air quality which was launched in October 2017. Prior to this, in July 2017, after UK courts twice ruled that the Government’s plans to cut air pollution were inadequate, the Government released a new air quality plan. The aim of the cross-party 
SPACE for Gosforth submitted evidence and feedback to several consultations in 2017. Here is the response to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Department for Transport (DfT) joint consultation on 'Improving air quality: reducing nitrogen dioxide in our towns and cities.
The intention of the consultation was to seek feedback on the Government's draft plan, which set out 'proposed actions to meet air quality standards within the shortest possible time'. 
In March 2017, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee launched an inquiry into Electric Vehicles. The inquiry was to examine the barriers to the development of the electric vehicle market and what support this emerging market might need.
The committee invited submissions of written evidence. SPACE for Gosforth decided to submit written evidence as we wanted to ensure that the inquiry considered electric bicycles ("E-bikes") as well as electric cars and other vehicles ("electric vehicles"). 
Newcastle City Council have announced they will be holding a Policy Cabinet meeting to discuss the plan that Newcastle has been asked to create by the Government in order to ensure the currently illegal air quality in the city meets legal targets in the shortest possible timescales. This event is open to all interested stakeholders.