AN MP is calling for Pool-in-Wharfedale to get its very own Clean Air Zone.

The request is part of a 23-point submission Alex Sobel (Lab, Leeds North West) made to Leeds City Council this week.

The MP, contributing to the council's air quality consultation which ends on Friday, March 2, is also asking for improved pollution monitoring in Otley.

Leeds is proposing a Clean Air Zone which would stretch to the outer ring road and see high-emission vehicles, including HGVs, hit with charges.

Mr Sobel has welcomed the move but says Pool, where air pollution is 'as bad as anything...within Leeds ', deserves firm action too.

He said: "I am pleased that the Clean Air Zone is planned to be extended to the outer ring road which will, I believe, deter heavy vehicles from using the A660 corridor.

"It is imperative, however, for the zone to reflect that Leeds is a city made up of many communities.

"Every resident living in our city deserves to breathe clean air. It is therefore, only reasonable for a Clean Air Zone to be established in communities outside of the existing circle when there is a clear case for doing so.

"The clearest case in the constituency I represent is Pool.

"The monitoring station on Main Street has shown consistently high NO2 (nitrogen Dioxide) levels, with a reading of 60 micrograms per cubic metre of air in 2016, 20 above the EU limit.

"St Wilfrid’s Terrace has also shown consistently high readings.

"What these results clearly show is that residents in Pool are breathing air as bad as anything we see within Leeds city centre and decisive action must be taken."

Councillor Barry Anderson (Con, Adel & Wharfedale) however, while agreeing that the idea has merit, questioned how it would be implemented.

He said: "A specific Clean Air Zone for Pool, whilst laudable, would be very difficult to achieve for a number of reasons: firstly, defining the boundaries would be difficult.

"Also, Leeds have identified the need to improve buses, taxis and HGVs in their proposals but the advice I have been given is that none of these are the cause of the air quality issues in Pool, but rather the car.

"How would it be enforced? What would be the charging regime? What hours of operation would it be used for? How would vehicles circumvent the zone,?

"I am happy to work with our MP to come up with a way forward. It is not something that should be dismissed out of hand, it just needs thinking through."

Mr Sobel, meanwhile, has questioned the legitimacy of the data currently being collected from air monitoring stations in Otley, on Bradford Road and Westgate.

He said: "There is much concern in Otley around air quality particularly as there is an obvious traffic problem with standing traffic in many areas, especially over the bridge.

"Readings show levels that are just within EU limits.

"However, these are taken from two areas that have heavy traffic flow but do not resemble the severity of the traffic coming from Billams Hill and over the bridge into town.

"I would therefore request a review into the placement of the monitoring stations, with a view to future action if the readings come back with the severe results we all suspect."