Chelmsford joins airTEXT network

Chelmsford city council has joined the regional free airTEXT service, which provides residents who sign up to the scheme with local air quality alerts on their mobile phone.

Chelmsford city council is urging residents to use the free service called, which was first launched in London in 2012, and also covers Colchester. The app sends air quality updates via text message, email or voicemail.

airTEXT provides warnings of air pollution episodes to users’ mobile phones

The service also provides a three-day forecast on air quality, pollen, UV and temperature.

Councillor Ian Grundy, cabinet member for safer communities, said: “The new airTEXT app allows us to share our findings more easily with people who live, work and play in the Chelmsford area.

“Although an alert is no cause for alarm, we hope the information will be especially useful to those who are particularly affected by changes in the air around us.”

Consortium

The service was designed by the publicly funded airTEXT consortium, which is compromised of the London boroughs, Slough borough council, the Greater London Authority, Environment Agency and Health Protection Agency.

Colchester borough council has also joined airTEXT and the app provides forecasts for the South East.

The service was once criticised by London’s Liberal Democrats, who said in 2014 that the service isn’t a sufficient tool to help protect Londoners from the effects of air pollution.