If you are worried about pollution levels in York (and you should be) you have until the end of the month to make your voice heard. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.

STAND at the top end of Fishergate at the height of rush hour, where the traffic is queuing to feed around to Tower Street, and you can smell the pollution: a flat, metallic sort of stink in the air that catches at the back of your throat.

It is not like that all the time. But it is bad enough for the area to have been identified by experts as one of two "pollution hotspots" in the city expected to fail government air quality targets.

It is levels of a pollutant called nitrogen dioxide that are causing concern in York. Nitrogen dioxide is a dirty brown gas which can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and lungs and is one of the by-products of vehicle emissions. While the levels in Fishergate and the Bootham/ Gillygate/ Lord Mayor's Walk area - the city's other main pollution hotspot - are rarely if ever enough to put people at risk of, for example, a serious asthma attack, it is the effect of long-term exposure that experts are worried about.

"The long-term lasting effects of nitrogen dioxide are associated with a gradual deterioration in the health of people who are already suffering from lung diseases, and an increased susceptibility to respiratory infections within the general population," the city council's own draft air quality action plan says.

"Based on current medical evidence it is likely that annual average concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in some areas of the city are having an adverse impact on the long-term health of the more vulnerable members of York's population."

It is a worryingly stark message.

Even with successful measures such as Park & Ride and cycle and bus lanes, traffic congestion in York (which accounts for the bulk of nitrogen dioxide) is so bad that there are five areas on York's inner ring-road where at the moment average levels of the pollutant exceed government targets.

As well as Fishergate and Bootham/ Gillygate, they are the Lawrence Street/ Barbican Road area, Holgate Road/ Blossom Street/The Mount, and Nunnery Lane. Experts are confident that in the latter three areas they will be able to reduce emissions enough to meet government objectives for nitrogen dioxide by the target date of the end of next year - mainly relying on the fact that cars are becoming "cleaner". Not, however, in the two main "hotspots".

As required by the Government, for the past two years, the city council has been consulting on its air quality action plan. It contains many suggestions for tackling air quality, including better traffic management to reduce polluting car and lorry journeys, encouraging people to live nearer their work, car sharing schemes, "walking buses" so children can walk safely to school, and even river buses to take more passengers off the roads. See panel above.

Some of the suggestions seem vague and airy fairy, others are exciting. According to Green Councillor Andy D'Agorne, however, the plan does not go far enough.

The Fishergate ward councillor and governor of Fishergate School - which sits in the middle of one of the highest areas of pollution - believes experts are relying too much on motorists using "cleaner fuel" and on being able to reduce van and lorry journeys to meet air quality targets, which they accept they will fail to meet in the two worst pollution hotspots.

With new developments springing up across the city centre - and major schemes such as Hungate and the Barbican set to go ahead in the near future - the situation will only get worse, says Coun D'Agorne.

It is a view shared by Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, the Labour group's spokesman on transport and planning.

"I'm pleased that a start is being made to tackle the problem," says Coun D'Agorne. "But really we need more radical measures."

Among the radical measures he would like to see being at least discussed is congestion charging, to discourage motorists from driving in the city centre unless really necessary.

That's not about to happen. The ruling Liberal Democrats have ruled out such draconian' measures, saying they would cost a fortune to set up and would discourage people from coming to the city. But they point out they have already reduced parking charges for low emission cars such as Smart cars to encourage motorists to use fuel-efficient vehicles.

Rather than penalise motorists, Coun Andrew Waller, the cabinet member for environment and sustainability, says Lib Dem transport strategy prefers to focus on heavier vehicles such as lorries and buses which produce higher emissions.

First York are already trialing "dual fuel" buses that could significantly reduce polluting emissions, he points out - and experiments are being considered which would help heavy goods lorries "maximise the efficiency of their deliveries" in the city centre by better co-ordinating their delivery routes.

He makes no apology for the number of flats being built in the city centre, pointing out that at least they are near to facilities and places of employment, and so, theoretically, should generate fewer car journeys than new homes on greenfield sites outside York.

Innovative schemes are being considered to reduce car ownership among people living in new city centre flat developments, he says - such as "car clubs", where residents of a block of flats would have access to a "pool" of cars they could book when needed.

Ultimately, Coun Waller agrees with Andy D'Agorne that the long-term solution to the city's pollution problem lies in getting people to change their behaviour, so that they don't automatically jump in the car for unnecessary journeys.

"If a city of 180,000 people are all genuinely concerned about pollution they will look at their behaviour and modify it," he says.

Maybe. But car-using habits have been ingrained in us all for so long it may not be that easy to change.

:: York's air quality action plan

York people have until the end of this month to comment on the plan, or make suggestions. It will then be sent to DEFRA (the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) for approval.

Some of the suggestions contained in the plan are already being acted on.

Others amount to little more than recommendations for development of new strategies or feasibility studies. The key elements of the plan are:

Reducing the need to travel. Working from home to be encouraged, and development schemes that give advantages to cyclists, walkers and those using public transport.

The city's first "car club" where residents have access to a pool of cars to be up and running by the end of next year.

Encouraging walking and cycling by the use of promotional campaigns, more cycle routes, better cycle parking and changing facilities and better conditions for pedestrians.

New cycling and walking strategies to be adopted and school travel plans to be in place at all schools in the city centre to make it easier and safer for children to walk to school.

Encouraging greater use of public transport. A sixth Park & Ride site to be opened by summer 2006. Bus information and bus ticketing to be improved, more bus lanes and bus priority areas to be created to improve reliability, and the 'Metro' ten-minute service to be expanded. Frequencies of certain other services to be increased. Consideration given to more discount schemes, such as incentives for frequent Park & Ride users. Water buses to be considered as part of an "investigation into the role of water transport on the River Ouse" in the 2006-2011 local transport plan programme.

Reducing car and lorry journeys in York. Improvements to the outer ring road. Better road signs (including electronic signs) to enable visitors to get about more efficiently. Car-sharing to be promoted and a service offered to put potential sharers in touch with each other.

Encouraging use of alternative fuels and smaller cars. A "fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuels strategy" to be developed, which will look at ways of making alternative fuel (including electric car charge points) more widely available and how to reduce emissions from large fleets of cars. Reduced parking charges and designated parking bays for smaller cars.

Improving traffic management. An intelligent Traffic Congestion Management System is already being developed which will allow traffic to be handled more smoothly.

Motorbike use to be promoted, and parking restrictions tightened up and enforced.

Reducing emissions from lorries and buses. Development of a "freight strategy" with improved lorry routing and better signage. Dual-fuel buses already being trialed.

Reducing emissions from non-transport sources (domestic and industrial). Energy efficiency advice to be promoted; improved enforcement of industrial emission controls.

To make your comments on the plan, email the city council's environmental protection unit on environmental.protection@york.gov.uk or write to City of York Council Environmental Protection Unit, 9 St Leonard's Place, York YO1 7ET, or ring 01904 613161.

Updated: 09:57 Wednesday, June 16, 2004