THE leader of Waverley’s opposition Farnham Residents party Jerry Hyman has accused the borough council of “targeting” Farnham after new figures purported to show air pollution is “61 per cent” higher in the town than two years ago - contrasting with more modest increases of “29 per cent” in Godalming and just “three per cent” in Haslemere.

Mr Hyman’s inflammatory remarks came in response to an update on Waverley’s air quality issues at Monday’s meeting of the council’s watchdog environment overview and scrutiny (O&S) committee, which he chairs - the first since Waverley confirmed it had reported the results of its botched 2016 Air Quality Annual Status Report to Surrey Police in mid-February.

It also follows the first meeting of the new Farnham Air Quality Working Group on February 27, set up by Waverley to combat illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in Farnham - at which town, borough and county councillors as well as representatives of Farnham Town Council and the Farnham Society were provided with new NO2 raw diffusion tube data collected by Waverley’s new environmental consultants Amec Foster Wheeler from the first three months of its contract (October to December).

According to Mr Hyman, this data, when compared to the figures for the same months in 2015 contained in Waverley’s reissued 2016 Annual Air Quality Status report to DEFRA, look “significantly different” to those that Waverley had previously reported - drawing particular attention to an average increase of 61 per cent in NO2 levels across Farnham’s 19 diffusion tubes.

Speaking at this week’s O&S meeting, the Farnham Castle councillor added: “Godalming’s figures are 29 per cent higher, Haslemere three per cent. So it’s not as though these figures are across the board, it looks like Farnham has been targeted.

“I don’t think it’s the case that air quality has gotten that much worse over two years - I think it has to be that the data we were given was suspect.”

His comments followed an update on air quality by Waverley’s head of environmental services Richard Homewood, who warned members against taking the raw data on face value, commenting that the figures may yet change once the “bias adjustment factors”, allowing for discrepancies between Waverley’s diffusion tubes, are taken into account.

Mr Homewood did, however, admit the data indicates air quality has declined in Farnham and, in the absence of trustworthy data for 2016 and 2017, added: “Whether that’s a sudden jump or a trend that’s happened over 2016 and 2017, we can’t say at the moment, but I suspect it’s a gradual trend rather than a sudden jump for those three months.”

When issuing its now discredited report last May, Waverley hailed “an overall improvement in air quality” - noting that just three locations in Farnham, two in The Borough and one in Wrecclesham Road, breached the national mean objective for NO2 in 2015.

But the reissued report reveals pollution is on the rise in the town, with an additional location in Station Hill now deemed to also be exceeding the national objective.

The head of environmental services continued: “We need to understand why that’s happening and what measures we can take. But one of the things that’s quite clear in Farnham in particular is we need to look at the Farnham level crossing by the station, and whether the air quality management area should be extended to include that.”

Mr Homewood’s assertion that Farnham’s deteriorating air quality is a “gradual trend” provoked derision from O&S chairman Mr Hyman, however, with the opposition leader commenting: “61 per cent higher is not an issue of ‘it’s gone up slightly year on year’ - it’s a completely different set of readings. I don’t know if that data has been sent through to the police, because I think it should be.”

Addressing Mr Homewood directly, Mr Hyman added: “You’re right about the balancing factor, but it’s going to be a few per cent, it’s not going to be 60-odd per cent.”

Mr Hyman, a fervent opponent of Waverley’s Brightwells regeneration scheme, continued that the matter could have “implications” for planning permissions already granted as well as the borough’s newly-adopted Local Plan, which targets building 2,780 homes in Farnham up to 2032.

Mr Homewood added an update on the police probe into Waverley’s air quality monitoring is also expected “shortly”.