A COTSWOLD beauty spot with the air quality of an inner city is being monitored by pollution watchdogs.

In April last year Cotswold District Council revealed the level of Nitrogen Dioxide at the Air Balloon roundabout near Birdlip had risen rapidly since 2005.

The toxic gas can affect the respiratory system.

CDC said urgent action was required as the level of the gas would exceed national air quality objectives by 2010.

But an action plan to improve the air quality has been put on hold until June 2010.

Heavy traffic builds up daily on the roundabout that leads to a major trunk road - an essential link between the M4 and M5 motorways.

The roundabout is also near popular beauty spots such as Crickley Hill and Barrow Wake.

A delay in the £15,000 funding from Defra for air monitoring equipment meant an analyser was only installed in December.

A CDC spokesman said the analyser has to be in place for six months in order to take an accurate reading, which will be used to form the action plan.

Robert Irving, chairman of the Friends of the Earth in Cirencester, said the road was a "definite problem."

"The whole affect of the A419 is just to allow everything to pile up on the Air Balloon roundabout," he said.

"The only possible solution is to reduce the level of traffic through the place. Building a huge horrible road through there is no solution at all."

CDC is holding an action plan workshop in July with various organisations including County Council Highways and the Highways Agency.