Council adopts new clean air strategy for North Tyneside
North Tyneside Council will roll out a new strategy to further improve air quality in the borough and tackle health inequalities linked to pollution.
The North Tyneside Air Quality Strategy (2023-2028) sets out the case for action and outlines four main objectives over the next five years.
Although air quality levels in North Tyneside are monitored by the council and consistently shown to be good, the strategy sets out how the council will make further improvements and cut transport emissions, review air quality through the planning process, and reduce industrial sources of pollution.
The strategy comes under the council’s Equally Well plan, the Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy which aims to deliver a healthier, fairer future for North Tyneside.
The document was shaped by residents and businesses during a six-week consultation, which revealed strong support for the strategy and its aims, and it was formally adopted at a meeting of the council’s Cabinet last night (June 26).
Councillor Karen Clark, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: “Poor air quality is the top environmental risk to human health today. It impacts many health conditions, with lives sadly cut short due to exposure to harmful air pollutants.
“In 2019, we declared a climate emergency and published an action plan to deliver strategic actions to drive down carbon emissions in the borough and one of the key five themes in the Our North Tyneside Plan 2021 – 2025 is for a green North Tyneside which sets out our ambitions for making North Tyneside an even greater place to live, work and visit.
“We actively monitor the air quality in North Tyneside and levels are consistently considered to be good, but we know that improvements can still be made, and we are required by the Government to develop and maintain an Air Quality Strategy to establish actions that the Authority will follow to maintain or further improve the levels of air quality in the Borough.
“Ours was developed by bringing together existing policies and actions as well as highlighting how we can all work together to improve air quality. The Strategy promotes reductions in particulates and identifies actions that will be taken to improve public health which is at risk from pollution.”
Air quality monitoring has consistently shown that North Tyneside has good air quality and meets UK air quality objectives. All local authorities who have not declared any air quality management areas are required to have an Air Quality Strategy, following the introduction of the Local Air Quality Management policy guidance in 2022.
The council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and has since slashed its own carbon emissions by 53% – ahead of target – while the borough’s carbon footprint has reduced 47%.