Improving air quality in North Tyneside

Press release: An abstract view of the Council crest

More than £1.2m will be provided to bus operators to help improve air quality in North Tyneside, Cabinet agreed last night (Monday 25 June).

An 800m stretch of the Coast Road at North Tyneside’s boundary with Newcastle is expected to be marginally above the allowed level of nitrogen dioxide by 2020, according to a Government report.

Officers from North Tyneside Council have been working with the Government and neighbouring authorities to find the best way to stop this happening, councillors were told.

It was identified that 13 per cent of nitrogen dioxide emitted in the area comes from buses.

A £1.201m grant has been secured from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to retrofit 69 buses operating in North Tyneside with technology designed to bring emissions down.

The move is expected to bring pollution levels on the stretch into allowed limits.

Cllr Carl Johnson, Cabinet member for Environment and Transport, said: “We are committed to improving air quality and have been working with the Government and neighbouring authorities to achieve this.

“Although there is only a small area in North Tyneside affected, we have identified the main source of pollution as buses and have taken positive steps to address it by securing this funding.

“The funding will allow the relevant bus operators, Go North East, Stagecoach and Arriva, to make engine improvements to reduce emissions and bring the stretch of the Coast Road into compliance.”

The council will continue to work with neighbouring authorities in Newcastle, Gateshead and South Tyneside to ensure consistency in the funding they have received to be passed onto bus operators in these areas.   

To view the reports presented to Cabinet visit https://my.northtyneside.gov.uk/meeting/20773

ENDS