Staffordshire County Council (SCC) and British infrastructure support service provider Amey will deploy a series of sensors across the English county ahead of trialling new solutions to improve air quality for local residents.
The trial forms part of the UK Department for Transport funded £22.9m Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) Smart Places Live Labs programme.
Amey and SCC will work with Earthsense and Airlabs to record Nox, P.M 2.5 and P.M 10 at locations across Staffordshire through the joint Simulate programme.
Three areas across the county have been identified as high-pollution areas, with sensors installed at Newcastle-Under-Lyme Ring Road, Burton-On-Trent Orbit accommodation and Cellarhead Junction.
Earthsense have sensorised all three areas and Airlabs have deployed sensors in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. Both sets of sensors will be used to gather baseline air quality data to determine and examine the positive impact solutions could have on improving the air quality in high pollution areas.
Julia Jessel, cabinet member for environment, infrastructure and climate change, Staffordshire County Council, said: “By using the data collected we can progress the programme with our selected businesses that will trial their solutions in those areas.
“These innovations can then be used to benefit communities not only in Staffordshire, but across the country.”
The data collected from the sensors will be continually monitored by Amey Consulting, which will use the findings to assist the Simulate team to monitor the solutions deployed to reduce the impact of poor air quality in the identified areas of Staffordshire.
Collecting data from the sensors is the first step for the Simulate programme before trialling and testing innovations in air-quality solutions, such as living walls and air scrubbing technology, that aim to enable future decisions to be made on how to effectively improve air quality, carbon capture and wellbeing benefits.
The sensors will be in situ for 12 months, enabling initial data to be collated, solutions trialled, and future air quality improvements agreed upon. Work is currently underway to identify and install solutions.
