Newcastle City Council has come back to me with a bit of background to last week’s story that it was considering installing a barrier to tackle Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) exceedances at a pollution hotspot.
Apparently, the BBC picked the story up from consultation documents relating to the council’s draft air quality action plan, which sets out potential options for improving air quality, including at a location on Stephenson Road where there have been high readings of NO2.
The council said that a study is underway and is looking at modelling data to determine whether a barrier could have a positive effect in reducing short-term exposure to NO2 emissions in this location.
It is expecting results from the study “later in the summer”, which will help to inform what next steps may be taken but that is a bit too soon to say that is are actively considering installing any measures as at this stage.
The barrier doesn’t appear to be in the draft plan itself but the study is referenced in this document from SPACE for Gosforth (Safe Pedestrian and Cycling Environment).
A council spokesperson said:
We do not currently have any plans to install any barriers on Stephenson Road.
We are looking at ways we can improve air quality and a data-based study looking at the impact of potential solutions is being carried out.
Until this data is available we do not know what measures may be effective and whether any measures would be installed in the future.
Transport Insights 
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