AN air quality monitoring station could be placed on a busy Worcester road.

The station, which looks like a green telecoms cabinet with a small cage on the top, would be placed on a grass verge outside 10 Lingmell Court in Tolladine Road.

New stations are being placed around the country as part of an expansion of air quality monitoring infrastructure in England.

The project is being run by the Environment Agency and Defra.

In planning documents submitted to Worcester City Council, the authorities said: “We have commissioned Bureau Veritas to deliver an expansion of our existing monitoring network during the next few months.

“This will require an enhancement of the network to provide additional data.

“The location of these analysers in key locations in England will be where existing data coverage can be improved and is vital to our national monitoring evidence base and will be a long-term investment.”

 

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The stations in question measure particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter (PM2.5) - tiny particles in the air that can travel large distances.

According to Defra, around half of UK concentrations of particulate matter come from sources such as domestic wood burning or tyre and brake wear from vehicles.

This is why stations are located in a range of places including at the sides of busy roads.

City councillor Ed Kimberley, responding to the planning consultation, said he was very happy it was being proposed.

But he added: “I think it is of great importance for us to contact the proposer and forewarn them of the risk of vandalism.”