Will pollution problem go up the river?

FEARS EXPRESSED THAT PROPOSAL WILL MERELY POLLUTE OTHER AREAS

THERE are fears that a proposed toll on the three central bridges that connect Newcastle and Gateshead will not solve the area’s emissions problem, but simply divert commuters west and create new tailbacks elsewhere.

Gateshead Council chiefs said on Tuesday morning that the Blaydon and Scotswood Bridges – which would not be subject to a toll under current plans – could become the area’s new pollution hotspots as a result.

A toll on the Tyne, Redheugh, and Swing Bridges is one of two options being considered to slash dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide on Tyneside’s busiest routes, the other being a wider clean air zone in which only high-polluting vehicles would be charged up to £50 a day.

But while council bosses in Newcastle, Gateshead, and North Tyneside believe that the bridge toll of £1.70 for almost all cars and £3.40 for lorries would be a “more equitable” solution to comply with a Government order to reduce emissions, the plan is not without its detractors.

Coun Jonathan Wallace, leader of Gateshead’s Lib Dem opposition, told a cabinet meeting yesterday: “If you want to avoid the charge then what do you do? You go down the A1 and over the Scotswood Bridge and the A1 bridge and that will build up the traffic there. People will burn more fuel, but it will be cheaper than paying the toll.

“We do not want solutions that move the problem elsewhere and I fear that one of the options here will move the pollution problem upriver to the Blaydon area. We have to look very seriously at that before we implement it.”

Labour’s Michael McNestry agreed, saying: “There will be a shift across to the west. One of the biggest polluters is the A1 and that is not our responsibility, it is Highways England’s. From what I gather, they [the Government] are not forcing Highways England to do anything about it.

“People will use Blaydon Bridge and Scotswood Bridge and then come into Newcastle from the west – that is what will happen.”

He added: “It will shift the hotspots from one place to another. Shifting more traffic to the A1 will make the system worse, and it is bad enough now.

“But this is a directive we are under and we have no option but to agree this.”

Coun John McElroy, the council’s transport chief, also agreed that it was a “real possibility” that the pollution problem would shift to the west of Gateshead and Newcastle.

Local authority bosses had previously ruled out placing a toll on the Tyne Bridge alone, on the grounds that traffic would simply be diverted to neighbouring bridges.

But Coun Arlene Ainsley, of Newcastle City Council, said last week that they now believed that extending the toll idea to the three central bridges would be sufficient to stop vehicles flocking in droves to free ‘rat runs,’ given that the Scotswood and Blaydon bridges are so far from the city centre.

The three Tyneside authorities were ordered by ministers in 2017 to clean up the air in pollution hotspots including the Central Motorway and Coast Road, with some form of charge expected to be in place by 2021.