A councillor has called for urgent action to be taken to help clean the air around a heavily polluted road.
Last month, the A472 Hafodyrynys Road in Crumlin was named the most polluted road in the UK outside of London.
According to UK Government data, the road between Crumlin and Hafodyrynys had the highest recordings of nitrogen dioxide levels in Wales.
Cllr Andrew Lewis, Labour member for the Crumlin ward, wants action to be taken immediately to solve the problem of air pollution caused by heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) using the route.
Cllr Lewis submitted a motion to Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Health Social Care And Wellbeing Committee, held on Tuesday, June 21.
It read: “I call on CCBC to take all remedial action, urgently to improve air quality on Hafodyrynys Road.”
The motion was passed and has now been referred to the council’s Labour-controlled Cabinet for discussion.
Cllr Lewis said he wanted a wide debate on the issue at full council and that the authority was not acting quickly enough to tackle the problem.
He said: “The residents are pretty peed-off, to put it mildly.
“They cannot open their windows, they cannot have a chat with each other on the doorstep and their white UPVC windows and doors are mostly black.
“The Welsh Government and Caerphilly County Borough Council have a duty of care.”
Cllr Lewis also added that the situation with HGVs could get worse with plans in the pipeline for reclamation works at the former opencast mine at Tir Pentwys, Hafodyrynys.
If the plans are green-lit by Torfaen Council, Cllr Lewis said, it could increase the number of HGVs on the road by another 80 to 100.
Caerphilly County Borough Council is planning to hold a meeting to gather views of residents to create an air quality action plan and, according to a report presented to the Health Social Care And Wellbeing Committee, the plan could be published for consultation by the beginning of next year.