Yorkshire pays pollution price

THE risk from air pollution remains a danger to all. As today's Yorkshire Post investigation reveals, this threat is just as likely to be encountered at iconic beauty spots, miles from the nearest urban conurbation, than in densely-populated towns and cities across the region.

It is also extremely difficult to curtail when the pollution recorded on the remote North York Moors is a consequence of polluting gases being blown into the National Park from across Britain and mainland Europe.

Yet doing nothing is also not an option – especially when the cost of treating asthma and bronchial patients each year is added to the equation. This is a significant sum at a time when so much emphasis is being placed on preventative medicine to help the NHS save money.

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However, the pollution levels recorded, for example, in Bradford – which now has the dubious distinction of being home to Yorkshire's two most toxic thoroughfares – does highlight the inadequacy of the Government's transport policy.

It was John Prescott, when he took charge of this policy in 1997, who said he would have failed if he didn't reduce Britain's car dependency. In hindsight, it was a totally unrealistic expectation.

Nevertheless, one reason so many streets are choked with traffic – and fumes – is because buses cannot pass through congested streets. Another factor is the inadequacy of commuter services on the railways, an issue that must not be placed on the back-burner as political attention turns to the feasibility of a high-speed rail network running along the spine of the country.

Yet this is not going to be solved by the handful of Yorkshire schemes that were belatedly announced by Ministers this week. It requires a whole new mindset that places public transport at the heart of the planning process – and offers incentives to councils, and the private sector, to put in additional services before new developments are completed.

The regret is that policy-making is no further forward, despite the growing awareness about climate change and related matters, than it was 13 years ago when the Government had such sound intentions.