Bypass the only logical answer

LAST week’s News Telegraph reported on the declaration of an

Air Quality Management Area for Ashbourne town centre, as a result of the recording of traffic pollution data for Derbyshire County Council.

The data showed readings consistently and significantly exceeded safety levels. At the DDDC meeting to discuss the declaration the issue was raised about the slow pace of action to tackle the air quality problem. Cllr Purdy is quoted as saying “We should refute the myth that there has been a delay”.

It may be of interest that the DDDC’S own Air Quality Report of 2012 showed Nitrogen Dioxide levels in St John’s Street at the time to be around the critical level of 40 at some times of the year, and these levels were the highest of all recording stations throughout the district.

The major concern at the DDDC meeting was what action to take about the pollution level. The monitoring contractor, RSK, said a potential bypass around the town would likely improve air quality.

However Mr Braund of DDDC dismissed this directly with “Whether that actually happens, ever, is another question. The bypass shouldn’t be used as a reason not to do anything else, there should be other options.”

I would agree, if there were other options. Speed limits and trafficcalming measures, causing slow and stop-start traffic, would in fact only increase pollution on the narrow streets. And there are no alternative streets for HGVS to use.

In my opinion, both county and district councils should recognise and acknowledge that a bypass is the only logical solution to this and other impacts of traffic – pedestrian safety, preservation of historic fabric, a destination of choice.

Our local authorities should make a concerted and singleminded effort to drive forward the achievement of a bypass.

With the exception of Cllr Spencer I do not see this determination in our local representatives. The Air Quality Management Area should be a wake-up call.

In the preparatory consultation for the Neighbourhood Plan in 2014, out of over 3,000 responses to the question “What is bad about Ashbourne?” by far the largest proportion identified the excessive volume of traffic and HGVS in particular. In the final Section 14 consultation in 2018, traffic and HGV volume was again the dominant issue.

Out of all the comments about traffic, 93% strongly favoured the urgent construction of a bypass.

Our councillors seem happy to perpetuate the myth that a bypass is too distant a prospect for serious pursuit. However, just to take two examples out of several, the Newtown bypass in Powys had the route finalised in 2014, and was opened in 2018. It was twice the length of the chosen Ashbourne route. The Broughton bypass, Lancashire, was completed in 2018 after only three years.

With more unwavering determination I am sure that the county could obtain funding – a mere £7 million has been reported – from a Government bent on a “Road Improvement Strategy” to complete this vital infrastructure, and so remove a proven health hazard from our town.

Frank Hobbs, Ashbourne