Lorries and other heavy goods vehicles may be prevented from using Kingshill Road, a major route to and from the town centre and west Swindon, to prevent unacceptable levels of pollution.

The steep hill, which is partially bordered by houses with their doors right up to the pavement, has the worst air quality in the whole borough, and it is the only place in Swindon subject to an air quality management plan.

That’s because the levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant most often associated with motor vehicles, were at an unacceptably high level.

They have fallen since 2018 when the road was made an air quality management area – but not fair enough.

Members of Swindon Borough Council’s cabinet will be asked next week to approve the council’s final air quality management plan to address the issue so it can be submitted to central government.

The report to cabinet says: “Short-term exposure over hours or days to elevated levels of air pollution can also cause a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma and increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and mortality.

“There is also emerging evidence of associations between air pollution and low birth weight, diabetes, cognitive decline and dementia."

The central feature of the plan is to make a traffic order removing “most heavy vehicles from Kingshill, including signage and alternative routes.”

The report to cabinet says: “A government grant has been secured to fund the installation of Variable Message Signs adjacent to each end of the [road]. These are to be used to help promote compliance with the incoming order and to deliver nudge and promotional messaging to road users.”

The plan says the council will also ”work with logistics companies to reduce impacts from lighter good vehicles through a Local Logistics Partnership and promote active and sustainable travel for Swindon residents, especially for short journeys”.

The report to cabinet says that the design of the order diverting lorries from Kingshill Road will still have to go through final consultation and installation.

The particular issue with Kingshill Road, and lorries using it, is that the steepness of the hill makes a big heavy vehicle’s engine work harder, in a lower gear, to get it up the slope, producing more pollutants.

The narrow road, enclosed tightly by houses, traps those pollutants and they do not disperse.

Other measures in the air quality management plan, which have yet to be funded are the upgrading of the Old Town Railway Cycle Path and more installation of public electric vehicle charging infrastructure.