The air-quality problem (The last gasp, G2, 20 March) is not just a problem in big cities. Crediton, population about 8,000, was declared an air-quality management area in 2003. The A377, which connects Exeter and Barnstaple, now carries more than 14,000 vehicles a day and passes through the centre. Our air quality does not meet the EU standard for either particulates, or nitrogen dioxide. Devon county council, which had agreed in 1991 on a route for a northern bypass, cancelled the planning permission for this. It has just started work on a relief road, which may help improve air quality at the eastern end of the town, but cannot help to reduce traffic through the high street, used by shoppers and children. We cannot now discover how bad the air quality is because the district council, which installed an air-quality monitor 10 years ago, putting the data straight on to the web, withdrew this facility three years ago.

continue reading Letters: Air quality a problem for small towns as well as cities | Environment | The Guardian.