Online maps show real time pollution in Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth
Online maps that show the air quality in real time for Shropshire's two most polluted towns have been released.
The air pollution maps for Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury show people the pollution levels in a specific location for the previous hour.
Put together by Shropshire Council and EarthSense, the webpages have been created in efforts to better identify the hotspots in these areas and better combat poor air quality.
The council also hopes that by knowing where there may be high levels of pollution, people and businesses can plan their journeys to avoid the areas.
This could mean planning a route which avoids where highest concentrations of pollution are found, avoiding the times when air pollution is at its worst or choosing to walk or cycle instead of using a motor vehicle.
The new maps could also have health benefits for those impacted by air pollution by offering a tool to consider where and when to travel to have the biggest positive impact on their health.
Gwilym Butler, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for communities, place planning and regulatory services, said: “The launch of this map is an important step forward in sharing real time air quality in high pollution areas in Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury.
Understanding
“Working with EarthSense to produce such a tool allows us to be open about where high pollution areas are, but also to show residents and businesses to enable them to make changes to the way they travel.
“I’m confident that wider access to these air quality maps will help us improve air quality together and I’d like to thank EarthSense for producing them.
“Better knowledge of our local air quality brings greater understanding of the level of action which may be required in future to address the challenges faced.”
Tom Hall, managing director at EarthSense, said: “By bringing together our air pollution sensor and modelling technologies we have been able to visualise air quality in Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury.
"While our sensors collate pollution concentrations at localised levels, our model integrates data from Highways England with real-time traffic data to show pollution trends in the wider area.
"We also provided Shropshire Council with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) which models the flow and dispersion of pollutants in built up areas, giving us detailed insight into how pollution behaves.
"Making this data visible to the public via our web app allows residents to make better informed decisions, particularly those who suffer from existing respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD and ultimately improving public health.”
View the maps:
The webpage has been supported by funding from the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, and can be viewed at portal-public.earthsense.co.uk/ShropshirePublic
