Confusion over air pollution

Not for the first time has one of your editorials hit the nail on the head, the latest relating to evidence required about the conflicted findings on air pollution in Eastbourne (November 3).

One of the Royal College’s conclusions for declaring it so high is our proximity to ‘one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and ships burn the dirtiest kind of diesel fuel in huge quantities, emitting massive amounts of sulphur dioxide’. In which case why does the same disadvantage not apply to Hastings, where the shipping lane is even narrower? On the Thames estuary, Southend-on-Sea rubs shoulders daily with similar shipping to-ing and fro-ing between the town and the port of London. Why is that coastal town exempt from the pollution excesses of Eastbourne?

We are also noted for being the fastest growing town in East Sussex with a concomitant increase in diesel road traffic. Logic would therefore suggest that Brighton, 23 miles away, a far bigger town with proportionately greater traffic, should be similarly infected but apparently isn’t.

If Eastbourne does indeed suffer from factors which place it at special risk, then, as your editorial suggests, let us hear about them and look towards appropriate remedial action.