St Helens Borough Council is to focus on improving public transport and has no plans to introduce a Clean Air Zone in the borough.

This is according to its Cllr Andy Bowden, St Helens Borough Council’s cabinet member for transport and environment, who said: “We regularly test levels of nitrogen dioxide – one of the main vehicle air pollutants – at key sites in the borough where emissions are higher, known as air quality management areas. Within these we report an overall decreasing trend over the last five years, while three of the four sites now have levels of nitrogen dioxide below the national objective,” according to a report by St Helens Star.

“Part of the success here is our drive to improve the quality and accessibility of sustainable transport for all residents and visitors.

“In partnership with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, we have secured significant funding opportunities for the delivery of improvements to our local public transport network and are working hard to deliver these on the ground.”

The local transport plan (LTP) is a joint plan required by central Government and is produced by the six Merseyside local authorities and Merseytravel, the integrated transport authority for Merseyside.

The LTP sets out the council’s objectives, strategies and policies for transport. It also details the transport schemes that will be delivered, together with the performance indicators that will be used to monitor progress.

The current LTP is the third plan for Merseyside and became active in April 2011 – with the plan providing a long-term strategy for how to improve transport in Merseyside up until 2024.