Shrewsbury & Atcham
Borough Council

Shrewsbury and Atcham has an established programme of periodic and continuous air quality monitoring dating back to 1999. We have recently rationalised our continuous monitoring location by changing to a newly commissioned station in Shrewsbury town centre. It is located at a roadside setting in the apex of the junction between Chester Street, Castle Gates and Smithfield Road near the railway station. This area is a busy route for vehicles accessing the town centre from the north of Shrewsbury.

This air quality monitoring station is designed to target a loaction where air quality is likely to be poor and as a result focuses on measuring vehicle emissions and fine particulates at the roadside to also assist predicting levels where people live.

The monitoring location is characterised on one side by narrow 'canyon' like topography at Castle Gates and a more open aspect across Smithfield Road. All three roads have a number of residential dwellings (receptor locations) located close to the roadside. As such it is it has poor dispersion of air pollution and congested traffic flows with a complex junction controlled by traffic lights . The Shrewsbury Town Centre Air Quality Management Area (AQMA 03A) includes all three roads.

To access the near real-time air quality data provided from this monitoring station, click on the link http://www.shrewsbury.airqualitydata.com/index.cgi