EDITOR'S CHOICE SPORT CRICKET: Eager Oxon are raring to go United keen to hang on to Green NEWS Labour to kick off with football plan FOOD Couple's happy chickens lay top-quality eggs Asparagus with hollandaise sauce recipe WHAT'S ON The Merry Widow, English National Opera, London Coliseum, Dara O'Briain: New Theatre CINEMA The Oxford Murders NEWS Reservoir 'absolutely essential' VOTE Do you believe Thames Water has a good case for a new reservoir in Oxfordshire? Yes No GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL Just register

Most read Comments 1 Coach in crash at roundabout 2 Relief planned at major junction 3 Bid to demolish former pub fails 4 Scrap thieves target car exhausts 5 Former teacher faces child porn charges 6 Two chances to run in the sun 7 Cannabis move sparks crackdown 8 City council to raise minimum wage 9 Labour to kick off with football plan 10 Rail strike to hit Oxford Today | 7 Days 1 Election: Full picture in Oxford 2 Mosquito devices could be silenced 3 Punches took away my husband 4 Reservoir plan on agenda 5 Plan unveiled to beat water shortages 6 Builder fined for fly-tipping 7 Reservoir 'absolutely essential' 8 BlackBerry plan to improve policing 9 Scrap thieves target car exhausts 10 Warning issued on pan pedlar

FEARS have been voiced over a traffic scheme to cut air pollution in Wallingford.

Oxfordshire County Council and South Oxfordshire District Council are working on the six-month pilot due to start next month.

But residents, traders and environmentalists have all raised concerns about it.

The trial would cost nothing to implement as it would involved changing the timing of traffic signals to hold vehicles back on the Crowmarsh side of Wallingford Bridge.

This would allow traffic to pass through the High Street faster and - the councils hope - reduce congestion.

But Elaine Hornsby, chairman of the Wallingford Business Partnership, said: "I don't think this scheme is going to work.

"It is going to mean long delays between the lights changing to allow all the traffic that has built up on the Crowmarsh side through.

"When they started fiddling with lights last year, cars started jumping the lights, rather than waiting, and I can see the same thing happening again. And, if there are any lorries making a delivery along the High Street, it will cause chaos."

Pollution in Wallingford has been identified as one of the main problems for the town by the district council since it began monitoring air quality in 2002.

Pollution levels for nitrogen dioxide in the town centre are exceeding the Government's national target of 40 micrograms per cubic metre.

The most recent figures available, taken during air monitoring by the district council near to the George Hotel in the High Street, show Wallingford has 49 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide per cubic metre. With 7,000 vehicles travelling along High Street every day, it is hoped that the new timings will see this figure drop.

However, environmental group Sustainable Wallingford has also criticised the scheme for failing to tackle the cause of the pollution.

Spokesman Amanda Griffin said: "We are disappointed with the plan as we don't think it solves the problem, it just moves it from one area to another.

"Traffic will be made to queue in Crowmarsh, rather than along the High Street, and while it may help improve air quality it's not tackling the cause of the pollution."

Crowmarsh resident Bill Church, 67, of The Street, said: "It is just going to cause mayhem in Crowmarsh if the traffic is held back here, it's ill thought out. It just feels like they are passing the buck to this area, because they have pollution in Wallingford. Well what about us? It won't do us much good."

District council senior environmental health officer Sally Coxell defended the scheme and insisted the air quality and quality of life of residents in Crowmarsh would not suffer. She said: "The trouble we have with the High Street in Wallingford is that it's a very narrow road with tall buildings on either side.

"Over the river in Crowmarsh, the streets are much wider and you get better air dispersal. It has been a really difficult decision to have to weigh up the advantages for some against the disadvantages for other.

"But if the trial were to cause mayhem in Crowmarsh then we would stop."

Ms Coxell added the pilot scheme was only a small part of a wider Air Quality Action Plan that South Oxfordshire District Council hoped to implement next year.

She said: "I must stress that it is still early days, and no final decision regarding that have been made yet.

"This trial is something that we can introduce cheaply to see if it has an effect, and if it doesn't work then it can be changed back just as cheaply."

3:17pm Wednesday 26th March 2008

Print

Email this