To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what are the present air quality standards in the vicinity of Brent Cross shopping centre, with reference to (a) carbon monoxide, (b) nitrogen oxide, (c) nitrogen dioxide and (d) particulate material below 10 microns; what are the pertinent European limits for (a) to (d); and if he will make a statement. [9185]

As part of its national air quality monitoring programme, my Department, in collaboration with local authorities, monitors air pollutants using automatic and non automatic methods across London. The two automatic monitoring stations closest to the Brent Cross shopping centre are (i) an urban background station in the Kingsbury area of the London boroughs of Brent and (ii) a roadside station situated next to the A41 Great North Way at Swiss Cottage, in the London borough of Camden. The results of this monitoring for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate material below 10 microns, measured during 1996, are presented in the Table below.

Site	Carbon monoxide—max 8 hour running mean	Nitrogen oxide—98th percentile of hourly means	Nitrogen oxide—98th percentile of hourly means	Particles (PM10) max 24 hour average
Brent	8.00 ppm	191 ppb	55 ppb	61 ug/m3
Camden	Not measured	397 ppb	57 ppb	77 ug/m3

My Department also monitors nitrogen dioxide using non-automatic methods, in collaboration with local authorities, in its national diffusion tube survey. The results from the sites nearest to the shopping centre, for 1995, are given in the table.

London Borough	Location	Site type	Annual mean(ppb)
Barnet	158 Burnet Oak Broadway, Edgware	Kerbside	21
Barnet	32 Sanders Lane, Mill Hill	Background	18
Barnet	158 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware	Intermediate	17
Barnet	42 Lylton Road, New Barnet	Background	17
Brent	Abbydale Road, Alperton, Wembley	Kerbside	29
Brent	Stanley Avenue, Wembley	Background	20
Brent	66 Lodore Gardens, Kingsbury	Background	20
Brent	349–357 High Road, Wembley	Intermediate	21
Camden	Camden Town Hall, Judd Street	Kerbside	33
Camden	Church Hall, Wakefield Street	Background	19
Camden	St. Andrew's United Reform Church, Finchley Road	Intermediate	23
Camden	9–11 Froghal Way	Background	18