Worcester City Council has produced a draft Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) setting out the actions it will take to improve air quality over the next five years.
A review in 2018 established that air quality over the majority of Worcester is generally good but there are a number of areas in and around the city centre that have elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution, primarily attributable to road traffic.
The City Council has worked with representatives from Worcestershire County Council, Public Health, the NHS and the University of Worcester in production of the plan.
Within the AQAP, the Council has set out a number of measures to achieve the council's and partners key priorities to reduce emissions from traffic, improve public health and wellbeing, increase uptake of sustainable travel options and plan for future development.
The range of proposed measures includes increasing Electric Vehicle charging opportunities, improving cycling and walking infrastructure, discouraging heavy good vehicles from the city centre, working with schools and other communities, improvements to public transport fleets and the implementation of a public bike hire and share scheme across the city.
Lloyd Griffiths, Worcester City Council's Corporate Director of Operations, Homes & Communities, said: "This is an important document that maps out how we propose to make the air in Worcester cleaner.
"Working together with our partners we want to improve the air quality for everybody."
A report on the AQAP is set to be considered by councillors at the City Council's Licensing and Environmental Health Committee on 22 May
Councillors sitting on the Environment Committee will then be asked to approve the report for public consultation at their meeting on 6 June.
The draft AQAP will then go out to statutory and public consultation for three months, allowing the public to give their views.
A final report will then be published and submitted to the Government by the end of 2024.
