Clean-air plan to cut speed limit on major road
THE SPEED limit on a major road between Sheffield and the M1 is expected to be slashed as part of a package of measures to improve air quality.
Officials have been set the task of reducing nitrogen dioxide levels by eight per cent along the Parkway dual carriageway, which straddles Sheffield and Rotherham.
Both the Sheffield and Rotherham authorities worked together on a plan to improve air quality around the route.
They have drawn up an action plan to increase the link road’s capacity around the M1 junction, which falls within Rotherham, but also to cut the speed limit from 70mph to 50mph.
The plans have to go back to the Government for approval, but would form part of a package of measures in Rotherham to improve several air quality blackspots.
They include Rawmarsh Hill, where bus traffic is blamed for some of the problems and there is a target to reduce nitrogen oxide by six per cent, and Wortley Road and Upper Wortley Road, where a ban on heavy lorries could be imposed on the motorway-bound carriageway, to help bring about a three per cent reduction.
Fitzwilliam Road would also need changes to ensure buses with the most modern, and least polluting, engines were used, to help bring about a two per cent reduction.
But Rotherham’s ruling cabinet was told the prospect of a “congestion charge”-style levy on motorists had been ruled out because of the hardship it would cause.
Cabinet member Coun Emma Hoddinott told the meeting that the Government had introduced clean air zones as a response to the court action taken against it, with the Parkway identified as one of the zones.
The implication was that the council could then look to identify other pollution blackspots.
Council leader Chris Read stressed that the actions proposed for each site were part of a wider approach.