Rising numbers of electric buses were among the factors which led to a large drop in emissions in what was previously York’s most-polluted location, a council official has said.
A City of York Council meeting heard the expansion of its electric vehicle fleet and an anti-idling campaign also contributed to the fall in air pollution in Gillygate and across the city.
Council public protection officer Mike Southcombe said air pollution in Gillygate and across York falling below legal limits for the first time since the Covid pandemic was very positive.
Steve Lilley, of the Gillygate Air Quality Action Group, said they were pleased with the improvements and looked forward to seeing the results of an ongoing traffic signalling trial there.
It comes as council data showed NO2 emissions at the Gillygate and Bootham junction fell by 27 per cent from 43µg/m3 in 2023, above the legal limit of 40µg/m3.
The stretch of Blossom Street near its junction with Queen Street had the highest concentration of NO2 representative of long-term exposure in York in 2024 at 32.4µg/m3.
The council’s yearly air quality report also showed particulate matter, PM10 and PM2.5, remained below legal limits in 2024 but levels were up slightly compared to 2023.
Council official Mr Southcombe said the fall in Gillygate was due to a combination of factors but the largest contributor was the expansion of First’s electric bus fleet.
York was the first city outside London to have an operator with a wholly-electric bus fleet.
Labour’s Coun Jenny Kent, the council’s environment spokesperson, said 60 per cent of the authority’s vehicles weighing under 3.5 tonnes were now electric.
She added grants totalling £105,000 to help taxi drivers by low or zero emissions vehicles had also helped bring air pollution down.
Coun Kent said: “We hope that will be nearly 100 per cent by the end of the year and we’ve taken measures to encourage people to turn off their engines while stationary.
“I couldn’t be happier to see these results, it’s been a joint effort.”