This is the second of four SPACE for Gosforth blogs that together make up our response to the Council's Clean Air consultation.
Our first blog set out our review of the Council's proposed measures including a charging clean air zone and an alternative approach made up of a lower emission zone where non-compliant vehicles are banned and there are tolls on the city centre bridge.
In this blog we propose measures for the city as a whole and specifically for the City Centre Air Quality Management Read more [...] Breathe – In the City
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This is the second of four SPACE for Gosforth blogs that together make up our response to the Council's Clean Air consultation.
Our first blog set out our review of the Council's proposed measures including a charging clean air zone and an alternative approach made up of a lower emission zone where non-compliant vehicles are banned and there are tolls on the city centre bridge.
In this blog we propose measures for the city as a whole and specifically for the City Centre Air Quality Management Read more [...] 
SPACE for Gosforth has produced some air pollution banners for local schools for Clean Air Day 2019. 
SPACE for Gosforth responded to the Council’s Air Quality consultation. This blog covers the part of the response in which we review the Council’s proposals. 
The Government has directed Newcastle City Council to meet air quality limits in the shortest possible timescales. To achieve that, the Council must use the most effective and fastest acting measures to reduce pollution in locations where legal limits are not being met.
Measures that take longer or are not as effective may also be included in the plan in addition, but not instead of, the most effective measures.
We thought we would take a look to see what the evidence says.
Broadly 
Newcastle City Council have released the Air Quality Feasibility Study that will be used for its forthcoming consultation. Whatever the final plan that is chosen, it must by law meet air quality limits within the shortest possible timescale. The question for the consultation therefore is how should that be achieved. 
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. 
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.
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.