EFFORTS to try and tackle Marlborough's high levels of air pollution are gaining momentum after a local environmental group held a rally in the High Street to try and implement 20mph speed limits across the town.

To raise public awareness of the need for traffic to slow down for the safety of the public and to reduce the pollution associated with stop-start traffic, members of Transition Marlborough, town and Wiltshire councillors and parliamentary candidates gathered in the High Street to make their voices heard.

"It was a really good turnout for our slow down photo and it was great to see many people from different areas joining together to try and do something about this issue," said Transition Marlborough activist Sam Page.

"Under the EU’s Air Quality Directive, levels of nitrogen dioxide, which can come from cars, should not exceed 40 micrograms per cubic metre of air but Marlborough can get up to 100 micrograms.

"A way to do that is to turn Marlborough into a 20mph town but there is a lot of work to do. We have to find out the average speeds of roads in the town with metro counts and then we have to see if average speeds are under 24mph, because if they are then we can apply to be a 20mph town.

"We have joined the 20 is plenty campaign, which looks to implement 20mph zones in towns and villages, and we hope events like these can be the catalyst for positive change."

The event was part of an initiative called Global Road Safety Week which was organised by the World Health Organisation,