Air Quality (Brent Cross) Mr. Dismore 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] Angela Eagle 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 | -------- |Brent | -------- |Camden| -------- 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 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Barnet |158 Burnet Oak Broadway, Edgware |Kerbside | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | Barnet |32 Sanders Lane, Mill Hill |Background | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Barnet |158 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware |Intermediate| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Barnet |42 Lylton Road, New Barnet |Background | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Brent |Abbydale Road, Alperton, Wembley |Kerbside | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Brent |Stanley Avenue, Wembley |Background | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Brent |66 Lodore Gardens, Kingsbury |Background | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Brent |349–357 High Road, Wembley |Intermediate| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Camden |Camden Town Hall, Judd Street |Kerbside | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Camden |Church Hall, Wakefield Street |Background | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Camden |St. Andrew's United Reform Church, Finchley Road|Intermediate| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Camden |9–11 Froghal Way |Background | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ European Community Directive 85/203/EEC sets a limit value for nitrogen dioxide of 104.6 ppb as a 98th percentile of hourly means. There are currently no European limits for nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide or particulate material below 10 microns.