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Highest ever City pollen count not to be sniffed at!

With the current heatwave, air quality experts at Winchester City Council have confirmed that this week saw the highest pollen count in the City for the past five years.

The pollen count hit a high of 467 yesterday, Monday 7 June, which places it well beyond the recognised very high limit of 150.

Pollen levels are monitored daily by Environmental Health staff throughout the summer as part of their overall air quality monitoring function. The information is passed to the National Pollen Research Unit and used to provide local and national predictions for hay fever sufferers.

Robert Heathcock, the City Council's Head of Health & Waste Management, said it is well known that pollen levels increase significantly during the summer months.

"But this result was still quite a shock. Levels are high across the South and will not reduce significantly until the weather breaks. We hope that our monitoring data and predictions can provide the information that hay fever sufferers need to help them cope during the pollen season," he added.

"This monitoring work is also an important part of our wider work on air quality, which includes future plans to reduce traffic pollution levels in the city centre as part of our ‘Breath of Fresh Air’ project that aims to address the recently declared Air Quality Management Area."

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