Cllr Roy Gerstner – Community Activist

Fenland District Council has installed a monitor in Snoots Road and one on the A605 Whitmore Street at the roundabout with Broad Street and Orchard Street.

The monitors are part of a wider network of monitoring devices that provide evidence around air quality district-wide. Fenland air quality consistently meets national objectives at monitoring locations.

The Snoots Road monitor will provide data from the boundary of the industrial Saxon Pit site. Some Whittlesey residents have called for more information on whether industry in the area could have health impacts, which gave rise to a Cambridgeshire County Council-led public health risk assessment last year. One of its findings was that it would be beneficial to have further information about air quality on the boundary of Saxon Pit.

he report said: “Dust levels are being monitored within the Saxon Pit site by operators under Environment Agency permit requirements. Air quality is not being monitored on the site boundary therefore no public health assumptions can be drawn.”

It added: “The Environment Agency has recorded dust at the boundary and there are complaints from residents about dust. To determine whether air quality is up to standard at the site boundary, particulate matter (dust) monitoring should be done there.”

Fenland’s relocated monitor will provide data on a range of airborne pollutants including particulate matter; SO2 (generally related to industry and chimneys) and NO2 (generally related to traffic). The data from the district council monitor will not identify where any pollution is coming from but will indicate if it is present in the location of the monitor.

The district council is not required to monitor air quality except where parameters are met for a formal Air Quality Management Area.

An area to the south east of Saxon Pit has been a designated Air Quality Management Area for years in regard to SO2 levels, which have remained compliant with national standards throughout. The status is under review to be lifted, though consideration is being given to future development plans in the area that could have the potential to increase pollution levels.

In response to public concerns and to provide reassurance, the council installed an air quality monitor in Hallcroft Road, Whittlesey, in 2023. It consistently showed air quality in the area was good. Despite two periods of mechanical downtime in 2025 the data was extensive.

The monitor has now been relocated to Snoots Road.
A diffusion tube remained in the Hallcroft Road area following removal of the monitor providing further ongoing data on NO2.

The A605 monitor, funded by Cambridgeshire County Council’s highways team, has been installed where tubes have shown raised levels of NO2 and it focuses on that pollutant. Information from the monitor could be valuable when assessing proposals that could further increase traffic in the town.

The district council reviews and assesses air quality evidence across Fenland to determine whether air quality objectives are likely to be achieved and produces an annual report on air quality.
Data from the monitors and the most recent air quality report can be viewed via the district council’s website: Air quality

See the Cambridgeshire County Council website for details of the
Saxon Pit Public Health Risk Assessment