Dramatic drop in air pollution in West Lothian town

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Air quality monitoring at the heart of a West Lothian town is set to end after 12 years, following a dramatic drop in pollution.West Lothian Council's Executive has agreed to end Broxburn's Air Quality Management area status, which has been monitoring the main street through the town.The decision was made after results showed a dramatic drop in pollution levels, while officials said revoking the management order will save the council thousands of pounds a year.Speaking to the Executive meeting on Tuesday, Craig Smith, Environmental Health & Trading Standards Manager said: "As air quality has been improving and meeting objectives it is appropriate for the council to begin the process to revoke this order and remove the air quality management area within Broxburn.

The first step in this process will be to seek Scottish Government agreement to the proposal to revoke."Mr Smith's report said: "Due to historical exceedances of air quality objectives, three air quality management areas were declared in West Lothian.

These are still in place. The air quality management areas were declared in 2011 for Broxburn, and 2016 for Linlithgow, and NewtonHe added: "Monitoring data has been showing a continuing improvement, and in recent years, levels consistently below the air quality objectives."There is no specifically identifiable reason for improvements in air quality over this time, but it is reasonable to assume that, as vehicle pollution is the most significant factor causing poorer air quality, the 'greening' of vehicles and newer, less polluting, vehicles on our roads will be a significant influence in the improvement noted.The report added: "This could also be considered alongside changes in driving behaviour, move from diesel