Tackling industrial air pollution is missing from a draft strategy launched by Cheshire West and Chester Council .

Three out of four air quality management areas (AQMAs) across Chester , Ellesmere Port and Frodsham are linked to road traffic.

But the AQMA at Thornton-le-Moors is due to industrial emissions, causing an exceedance of sulphur dioxide.

This led The Chronicle to ask CWaC why there are no proposals on how to reduce industrial emissions in its vision document.

CWaC spokeswoman Jill Flynn responded: “The draft Low Emission Strategy proposes to omit industrial emissions from the strategy, certainly prior to 2020 when it will be reviewed. During this time it is proposed that the focus will be on traffic emissions as these occur in every street across the borough, at ground level and with no effective regulation outside of the annual MOT.”

The council says one strand of the draft strategy concerns the provision and availability of public transport.

Other aspects include:

■ Role of the Local Plan to ensure new developments contribute to the solution rather than adding to the problem

■ Promotion of ultra-low emission vehicles

■ Provision of an electric vehicle charging infra-structure

■ Exploring potential for council to use ultra-low emission vehicles

■ Anti-idling measures

■ Providing residents and businesses with information to enable them to take positive action where possible

The council spokeswoman added: “The reason for proposing to omit industrial emissions at this stage is based on our modelling work showing that the main cause of concern is traffic. Industrial emissions are tightly regulated, emissions are through tall stacks and abatement measures are standard place.

An electric charging point

“Additionally the council has no power to reduce industrial emissions beyond the limits set by Europe, so we want to focus our resources where we can deliver the greatest benefits.

"However industrial emissions are one of the areas on which we are consulting over with the public, businesses and other stakeholders such as the Environment Agency and we are interested in learning their views on this.”

CWaC reckons almost 300 premature deaths per year are linked to poor air quality across the borough. A public consultation on the draft strategy runs until Friday, January 5, 2018.