A breath of fresh air

We all take the fresh air for granted and thanks to two successful bids, Hertsmere Borough Council will be able to breathe in information about air quality in the borough.

Environmental Health successfully bid for over £35,000 to monitor and predict air quality in Hertsmere.

The team was awarded £30,000, as part of the Herts and Beds Air Quality Group, to set up an alert system for people to receive text messages if air quality dipped below a certain level.

Sarah Hoggett, Senior Environmental Health Officer who helped secure the money, said: "This alert system will be free to join through a website and will provide a vital service for people with respiratory health issues. The alerts will be sent via text message to members if the air quality is poor, allowing them to take extra precautions, such as staying inside.

"We will let people know when the website is up and running."

The North London Air Quality Cluster Group, which Hertsmere is a member, received £7,600 to help predict future air quality in the borough.

Sarah added: "We have to prepare many reports and action plans to Defra and this system is vital in enabling us to do that. It feeds in monitoring information and other data, including traffic statistics, to work out future air quality - potentially up to ten years in the future.

"This system will be vital in allowing us to look in to future air quality trends within the borough and hopefully help prevent poor air quality pockets developing in certain areas."