A COUNCIL has received a government grant to help improve air quality.

Fareham Borough Council has been awarded £150,000 to help improve air quality on a short stretch of the A27 to the south of the town centre.

It follows a Government report which highlighted areas across the country, including Fareham, which could have unacceptable levels of nitrogen dioxide in the future.

A major factor is around 30,000 vehicles travelling in and out of the Gosport peninsula each day.

This is the second award which the council has received from Joint Air Quality Unit JAQU, part of Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) towards improving air quality.

In March, the council received a grant of £500,000. The extra funding will support the work of the Council’s new air quality working group. The payment will be used towards a taxi replacement scheme in Fareham and Gosport.

The scheme will offer financial incentives to taxi owners in the two boroughs if they replace their older diesel vehicles with Ultra Low Emission vehicles (ULEVS) or hybrid vehicles (detail to be announced).

Council leader Seán Woodward said: “Improving the borough’s air quality is one of our key priorities as we know how important clean air is to health and wellbeing. This funding award will allow us, along with our partners at DEFRA and the Department for Transport, to implement our strategy towards a cleaner, brighter future.”