‘People’s lives are at stake... act on road pollution NOW’
CALLS FOR HGV BAN, 20MPH LIMIT AND CLEAN AIR ZONE
COUNCILLORS have voiced their fury at the long wait for action to build an A515 bypass in Ashbourne which they say would tackle the urgent problem of pollution and congestion.
At a Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting last week, councillors approved plans to bid for £15 million Levelling-up Fund cash for the town.
However, councillors and officers were clear that these were stop-gap measures and that the ultimate end goal would be to have a bypass built around the town, taking traffic and HGVS from surrounding quarries out of Ashbourne.
They agreed that a bypass plan, currently costed at £21 million by Derbyshire County Council, would not be happening “this week, or in the next 10 years” so they needed to look at improvements that could be delivered sooner.
The authority has said that after decades in the offing, the bypass plans will go out for a final public consultation next year, after which the way is clear for a planning application to be submitted.
Cllr David Hughes bemoaned the delays to the bypass scheme and action to tackle pollution in
Ashbourne – part of which was formally designated as an air quality management area in April 2021.
He said: “People’s lives are at stake here, the county council has a duty of care to the people of Ashbourne and it needs to do something.”
Cllr Hughes said a 20mph speed limit should be imposed in Ashbourne town centre, along with a clean air zone charging scheme to put people off driving through the town in more polluting vehicles.
He said: “Surely road casualties are only one sort of casualty, the other forms of casualty include the poor girl that died in London from air pollution from her asthma, and who is to say that won’t also happen in Ashbourne?
“Casualties happen in lots of different ways and people who suffer from asthma is one sort of casualty which can be caused by traffic through road pollution.
“A 20mph limit and local clean air charge should be put on the table – these are low-hanging fruit that can be tackled immediately and don’t require any sort of budget and anything in the way of administration and can be done straight away.”
Cllr Peter O’brien said: “It (pollution) is in practical terms shortening their lives. For each month we delay, every time we delay, we are effectively causing more harm to the health of our citizens and we are responsible for that.”
In February, the county council said air pollution was a contributing factor in 530 deaths per year in Derby and Derbyshire, with an economic impact comparable to that of obesity and smoking – up to £20 billion a year.
Cllr Neil Buttle said HGVS should be banned from the town during the day, in line with policies in central London, saying: “We don’t have HGVS in central London between 9am and 6pm. I see no reason why we can’t do the same in Ashbourne.
“Why are we having HGVS in the centre of the town in the day? I think that is something we should think about stopping.”
Steve Capes, the council’s director of regeneration and policy, told the meeting: “Ultimately the bypass is the solution and this (the Levelling-up bid) doesn’t deliver the bypass, it doesn’t cure the problems, we can’t pretend it does that.
“But it can make things better in the short and medium term, and at the same time promote an environment which, fingers crossed, when the bypass is eventually delivered will make Ashbourne a more resilient and better and healthier town for all, and I think it is well worth doing.”
Tim Braund, director of regulatory services, said the best way to reduce emissions in the town was to lower the number of vehicles accessing it. Research published by the county council showed that traffic on a number of routes through Ashbourne can reach as many as 10,000 to 12,000 vehicles a day, with almost half of this identified as through-traffic – people not stopping in the town.
He said: “The most significant way to do that would be to redirect traffic by the development of a bypass. That is not going to happen, if we are going to be honest, in the immediate foreseeable future but it is hopefully a long-term ambition for the town because clearly it would have benefits in terms of air pollution and in respect of many other things for the town, it will make the town nicer.”
Mr Braund contended that a clean air charge “is not something that can be done just like that, I would suggest look closely at the clean air zone charging stuff around Manchester Airport”.
Cllr Hughes slammed the county council for its “procrastination” over the production of a plan to counter dangerously high pollution in parts of Ashbourne.
He said: “Commiserations to you Tim (Braund) for having to deal with such an unreactive organisation as DCC.
“It is a disgrace, an absolute disgrace, that they are sitting on illegal pollution and cannot produce an action plan to tackle it and to get it through cabinet and to get it into the public domain for consultation.”
Mr Braund said the guidance was to have an action plan for air quality management areas solidified within 18 months, so the current 14 months is within a reasonable scope. He said a draft action plan was out for consultation with 11 measures, including the bypass, but said it would be “foolish” to only put the £21 million new road as a solution.
Mr Braund said: “It might never happen, or it might never happen in a reasonable timescale.”
He also said previous action from councillors, which saw the authority’s leader, Cllr Garry Purdy, write to the county council leader, Cllr Barry Lewis, was “found to be counterproductive”.
Cllr Mike Ratcliffe responded: “I was one of the ones who was calling for that and it felt justified at the time, and it is somewhat disturbing to find that it was counterproductive. We seem to be up against obstacles that are not permitting any movement
“I would like to say sorry to the residents in Ashbourne who are involved in this, it must be terrible for them.
“The lynchpin in this, which is the bypass, doesn’t seem to be an immediate prospect and one wonders if it will ever come about, quite honestly, and I can see the Levelling-up fund bid being well under way before that is being considered. We seem to be moving at a snail’s pace.”
Cllr Dermot Murphy, who is a district and county councillor, said: “I understand the frustrations, I don’t believe it is a deliberate policy to delay this, but I have got drainage schemes and road safety schemes that are so far behind it is untrue.
“It is a lack of resource, I am not talking money but I’m talking bodies, it is so frustrating – welcome to my world.”
Cll Janet Rose said: “We are all agreed that we need the bypass so the more pressure we can put on the county council and central government, the better.”
Cllr Sue Bull said she was “concerned at the slowness of how things are going” and that the trees on the hill portion of Buxton Road out of town could have been cut back by now.
This had been agreed at a meeting in February. Mr Braund said delays to that scheme were due to the trees being on private land and some being protected.
The county council approved the near 3km bypass route in February last year.
It would start from the A52 close to the town’s recycling tip and end near Callow Top Country park and the Landal Sandybrook Lodges.
A county council spokesperson said: “As with any proposals for a major project like this, detailed planning and investigative work is needed before planning permission can be sought, and this can often be complex and take several years to complete.”
Every time we delay, we are effectively causing more harm to the health of our citizens
Cllr Peter O’brien