A campaign has been launched to crack down on pollution blackspots in a Hampshire town.

Fareham Borough Council has pressed ahead with plans to draft an air quality plan to address high emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) within the borough.

It comes after high emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were found on a stretch of the A27 between the M27 motorway junction 11 to the A32 Quay Street roundabout and Fareham railway station.

The Environment Agency then named Fareham Borough Council as one of 30 councils in the UK which has excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide, breaching the EU Commissions limit.

The first step of the process will be to study see the council undertake an assessment of traffic flow on the stretch of the A27 to determine the types of vehicles moving through the zone.

Under the plans, the assessment will be carried out by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) software through cameras and associated equipment placed at key locations on the A27 in Fareham to simultaneously monitor traffic during a continuous seven-day period.

Phase one will cost £94,000, with funding coming from the £255 million Air Quality Implementation Fund.

Councillor Sean Woodward, pictured, the leader of Fareham Borough Council, said: “Pollution is caused by stationary vehicles with their engines running.

“Consequently, our challenge is to get the traffic moving and to keep it moving.

“That is why £100m is being invested in Fareham’s roads.”

A council spokesperson added: “The study area is expected to be

affected significantly by measures to be implemented under the local plan for housing which is being developed.

“Officers from Environmental Health and Planning, together with

colleagues from the Highways Department at Hampshire County Council have determined the study area and designed the ANPR traffic survey.”

Tim Pratt, coordinator of Fareham and Gosport Friends of the Earth, said: “We support information gathering to identify where the problem areas are and we hope that this will led to concrete action in the future.”

Following this, the council will undertake a feasibility study which will be used to draw up a draft plan for proposals to address NO2 air pollution in the borough with a draft plan due by the end of March 2018, before a final version of the plan can be approved by the government in December 2018.