AIR quality statistics in the Ribble Valley are to be published on a dedicated web site in a ground-breaking initiative

The Ribble Valley Council is establishing the site to publish daily findings from its air quality monitoring stations at Waddington and Chatburn near Clitheroe.

The stations were set up in 1997in response to growing concern about air quality after Castle Cement started burning its controversial toxic waste fuel, Cemfuel.

The council receives numerous requests for the statistics on a weekly basis from residents and air quality campaigners.

James Russell, environmental health manager for the council, said the purpose of the site was to make the information more readily available.

"At the moment people have to come into the office, but we want to make it easier for people to access the information themselves," he said.

"The web site will include graphs and statistics making it easy to understand."

Two-thirds of the £1,200 annual operational costs of the project has already been promised by local businesses and it is hoped that it will be up and running shortly.

Mr Russell went on: "Although the initiative isn't directly linked to Cemfuel, concern about air quality among local residents has continued unabated and we are establishing the web site in the spirit of transparency and honesty.

"This is cutting edge stuff and I think we are one of the first local authorities to publish information in this manner."

Clitheroe air campaigner Lynda England, of Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Friends of the Earth, welcomed the news.

"I think this is a great idea. Many of the people concerned about air quality in the vicinity of Castle Cement's Ribblesdale plant live in villages and this will make access to vital information easier for them."

The scheme is one of a number of environmental initiatives outlined in the Ribble Valley Council's 2002 Performance Plan. The council also aims to provide kerbside recycling facilities to more than 90 per cent of Ribble Valley households over the coming year in a bid to minimise the amount of waste going to landfill.