Lewes to be coated in paint that absorbs fumes (From The Argus)

Lewes to be coated in paint that absorbs fumes

12:30pm Sunday 7th June 2009 in News By Rebecca Evans

A town plagued by dangerous levels of air pollution could be coated with an innovative paint that will absorb poison in the atmosphere.

Parts of Lewes have such high levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air that they are a health hazard for pedestrians.

Now council officials have drawn up a strategy aimed at making the streets of the town safer.

Among the ideas considered in Lewes District Council’s Air Quality Action Plan are introducing car-sharing schemes, changing traffic priorities for the most pollution-hit routes and using anti-pollution paint.

Councillors are also considering setting up a 20mph zone across the town centre in the hope of forcing drivers to steer clear of the area.

The latest tests reveal that Lewes has five air blackspots, known as air quality management areas, which suffer high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is linked to lung disease, restricted breathing and asthma.

The limit for NO2 is 40mgs per cubic metre but the town’s Fisher Street had a mean average of 46 and Market Street had a mean average of 38.

Breathing in regular amounts of NO2 can be dangerous or even deadly for the elderly, the very young and those with breathing conditions.

Edward Collict, the council’s lead councillor for the environment, said action needed to be taken to help the environment and prevent health problems but that the local authority had to be careful it did not damage trade in the area.

He said: “We are trying to do something about it. We are working with East Sussex County Council to try and discourage people from using their cars and to get people to shift their way of travelling and generally become more aware of the environment.

“But if you discourage too much traffic you may actually damage the other thing we are trying to do which is to keep the town alive.”

One of the more forward-thinking schemes proposed is the use of more than £100,000 of special, oxide of nitrogen (NOx) absorbing paint, which would neutralise NO2 in the air.

The use of the paint is being trialled in two London boroughs and the council is looking at ways to pilot the project, so long as the paint does not affect Lewes’s historic buildings.

Nigel Jenkins, the project officer for Sussex Air Quality Partnership, which promotes improvements in air quality in the county, said: “It is a novel idea and it could be interesting if it works.

“Lewes is a medieval town so without redesigning the whole town you have to come up with other ideas.”

A 20mph zone in Lewes town centre will be funded by the Local Travel Plan.

The council anticipates spending £25,000 designating the town centre as a 20mph zone which could also cut pollution.

The scheme could begin within the next few months and Mr Jenkins said that this could have a measurable impact on the air quality in Lewes.

He said: “If you have smooth flowing driving anywhere, the emissions are lower than they would be if vehicles are accelerating and then decelerating.

“You find that there are going to be hotspots when you are talking about emissions from vehicles even through somewhere like Lewes which does not have a high volume of traffic.”

Last month, The Argus revealed that air pollution has become so bad in parts of Brighton and Hove that new homes have been banned in case residents are poisoned by fumes.