The Local Democracy Reporter writes:

Bath's clean air zone has shifted illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide into a street that claims the title of the city's most polluted.

Although levels of the toxic gas are on average down 14 per cent compared to 2014, Bath and North East Somerset Council said more intervention may be required at some locations.

In the last two years nitrogen dioxide levels have shot up by a fifth from 39.9 micrograms per cubic metre in Chapel Row – a fraction below the legal limit of 40 – to 48.9.

They have also increased in Wells Road (48.2), Broad Street (43.1, up from 36.2) and Victoria Buildings (44.2), and remain illegal in Gay Street (42.7) and Walcot Parade (45.5).

The council expects the levels to stabilise once temporary works impacting traffic have been completed, including the Cleveland Bridge renovation project.

There may be other city streets where air quality has worsened but monitoring is not in place.

In Chapel Row some workers are saying they need the face masks they bought in the pandemic to protect themselves from air pollution.

Sarah Dedakis from Bath Leasehold Management said: "It's way worse now. Instead of moving, vehicles are just stationary all the time.

"It's just ridiculous. This is the council not having a clue again.

"When the lights change only three or four cars get through.

"The gut-wrenching thing is when they realise it isn't working we'll have to pay when they take it all out again."

She said she had to keep her windows shut and moved offices to get away from the pollution, adding: "I don't want to be breathing in those fumes."

The clean air zone launched in March to tackle Bath's illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide as soon as possible and by the end of 2021 at the latest, following government orders.

The previous Conservative administration approved plans for traffic lights in Queen Square to avoid charging private cars to enter the zone, which were implemented by the current Liberal Democrat cabinet.

Craig Jenkins, the owner of 4 Chapel Row, said: "Before these lights were put in the traffic used to flow beautifully. Now you get loads of traffic building up and emitting fumes.

"It's indicative of the council not having a coherent transport policy, it's all piecemeal and for short-term gain." Martin Bonnici from Crest Estate Agents said the issue was worse when Cleveland Bridge, currently undergoing repairs, was fully closed. "We're going to have to start wearing our masks for the fumes now, not just Covid," he said. "I don't know what they're going to do about it." A business owner who did not give his name agreed, saying: "I feel like wearing a mask going into town – not because of Covid but because the air quality is so poor. "We've seen a huge increase in the amount of heavy traffic through here. "The clean air zone seems to have been paired up with the closure and delayed reopening of Cleveland Bridge. All the HGVs are coming through here. "The impact was obvious. If you get a weather front the pollution just hangs, it's horrendous. "It's not helped by the traffic lights at Queen Square. Before they were put up, traffic would flow. Now it gets funnelled and bottlenecks. "Traffic in Bath is often at a standstill. If this means action has to be taken then hopefully in the long term it will be good for the city."

Kingsmead's Councillor Andy Furse said he had warned the clean air zone would displace pollution from lower Gay Street, which only has a handful of residents, to the more populated Chapel Row and Charles Street.

He said the measures had failed to improve pedestrian access across Queen Square.

"We need to understand what the long-term problems are going to be," he said. "This needs to be addressed."

Councillor Sarah Warren, the cabinet member for sustainable travel, said in a press release: "It's fantastic news that the clean air zone is having the intended effect of tackling the air pollution that can significantly damage people's health.

"However, the impact of temporary works in the city on traffic flow – including Cleveland Bridge – mean that we cannot draw firm conclusions on data for the locations showing an increase in nitrogen dioxide. We need to take a long-term view as we expect to see an improvement in air quality in these areas in the coming months, which we'll draw further conclusions about in forthcoming reports.

"Our target is to reduce annual average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide to below 40 micrograms per cubic meter of air at every location where we measure nitrogen dioxide in Bath, as soon as possible and by the end of 2021 at the latest.

"Obviously, we will not know whether we've achieved this until our annual report is released in the spring of next year.

"Our quarterly reports suggest that there are still a few areas that are a cause for concern, including around Cleveland Place, so we ask that everyone pulls together to limit their use of vehicles where viable alternatives exist, such as using park and rides, walking, using an electric bike or scooter or car-sharing."

Cabinet members will consider the clean air zone update on December 15.