NEARLY 1,000 hits have been recorded on the real-time air quality data now available on the council's website.

Hi-tech monitoring equipment beams information direct to the council's web-site so that visitors can see at a glance how clean the air is in the borough at any given moment.

The up-to-the-minute data has proved a big hit with website visitors, with 956 hits recorded in its first month.

By logging on to www.ellesmereportneston.gov.uk visitors can check out the real time levels of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and airborne particles, comparing levels to the national air quality standards.

This is all part of the borough's Air-watch campaign, which was launched in June and aims to tell people the truth about air quality by giving them clear, accurate, factual information so they don't have to rely on gossip and myth.

As part of the campaign every household in the borough has received a letter giving them some basic facts about air quality and a helpline number to call if they have any questions or would like to report an air quality issue.

Signs have also been put on the council's fleet of environmentally friendly, gas-powered vehicles and a series of information leaflets made available through council offices, doctors' surgeries and libraries.

The council's head of environmental health services Mike Whittaker said: 'We're delighted with the number of hits on the website's real-time air quality data. We've also given out thousands of leaflets and had numerous enquiries to our helpline, so the whole campaign is going very well.

'Our aim is to make sure people have clear, accurate information and a better understanding of air quality issues. Many people see the industrial sites around Ellesmere Port and assume that air quality in the borough is poor. But the truth is the quality of our air is no different from neighbouring towns and, in some cases, better.

'Now people can log onto our website or call our helpline on 0151 356 6633 to obtain real time air quality facts and figures for themselves.'