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Bridgend Council’s Cabinet will discuss an annual update on air quality at Park Street in Bridgend town centre (pdf).
Park Street was placed into an Air Quality Management Zone in 2019. This was because the legal maximum levels of nitrogen dioxide were exceeded at several air quality monitoring stations.
The latest figures covering 2024 (the first full-year figures since Park Street’s speed limit was reduced to 20 mph) show further drops in nitrogen dioxide levels.
Only two monitoring stations still exceed the limit – both of which are located between St. Leonard’s Road and the former Quaker Meeting House. This was partly blamed on the monitoring stations being positioned very close to the street (a row of terraces with inches of pavement outside them).
Based on current trends, nitrogen dioxide levels will naturally fall below the limit sometime during 2026. This would mean that the Air Quality Area order could be lifted in 2027.
Air quality is generally improving county-wide
The full air quality report (pdf) – which includes figures from county-wide air quality stations going back to 2019 – suggests that traffic-related air quality is improving almost everywhere.
The only stations recording nitrogen dioxide levels close to (or exceeding) the legal limits are the ones mentioned on Park Street.
However, air quality stations at Maesteg Road in Tondu (directly related to the recently postponed “mini-bypass”) and the southern end of Coity Road in Bridgend (near the Great Western club) have bucked the county-wide trend with increasing levels of nitrogen dioxide over the last year.
There’s also been a slight increase in NO2 levels at a monitoring station near the Ewenny Roundabout.
