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Green Councillors Slam Council’s Consultation On Air Quality Action Plan For Shalford 

Published on: 21 Sep, 2019
Updated on: 23 Sep, 2019

Green councillors have cast doubt on a decision by Guildford Joint Committee on September 18 to set up a four-week consultation on an air-quality action plan (AQAP) for Shalford.

Cllr Susan Parker (Send), leader of Guildford Greenbelt Group, said: “These Shalford proposals will all be pretty ineffective. In Compton, we’ve imposed the fig-leaf of a restricted right-turn. Instead, we should address air quality borough-wide, with comprehensive solutions.

Cllr Susan Parker

“Air quality in Guildford is very poor. Blame the car. Plans to put 70% of new housing outside the town will worsen car dependency and our air.

“We should ensure new homes are built in the urban area to minimise future increased car use. Electric buses will help.  I want urban street trees and kerbside hedging to mop up particulates and filter air, and electric car-charging points across the borough.”

The main source of emissions in Shalford is from road traffic, exacerbated by the properties being close to the carriageway which reduces dispersion of emissions. Tests had shown levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exceeded national guidelines.

Cllr Diana Jones

Cllr Diana Jones (Green Party, Tillingbourne) said: “Car and other traffic is largely responsible for the high readings of nitrogen dioxide and other oxides in parts of Shalford, and the council is taking urgent measures to manage and if possible reduce the pollution and the corresponding danger to the health of residents.

“But this seems a vain hope. Guildford’s adopted Local Plan commits the area to 10,000 extra new households between now and 2034.  These are mostly to be built on greenfield or green belt land some distance from the main town and transport hub of Guildford.

“If you allow that every new household will have an average of two cars, you have got 20,000 more cars on our Surrey roads.

“The additional pollution this will cause could be slightly mitigated by building 3,500 of those dwellings in and around the town centre, where the proximity to jobs and services reduces the need for polluting vehicles.

“Another positive move would be to ensure that no unnecessary pollution results from burning carbon to heat houses, and that all new buildings are carbon-neutral, or as close to that as possible, but again there is no firm commitment for those measures yet in place from the council.

“National government guidelines set the housing targets for all councils.  Many areas in Surrey are already suffering the effects of road congestion and pollution. The additional 10,000 houses planned are not going to improve air quality anywhere in the county and particularly not in Shalford.”

Cllr Caroline Reeves

At the September 18 meeting, council leader Caroline Reeves, lead for Sustainable Transport, Transformation and Regeneration, Economic Development, Asset Management and Governance, had said: “Improving air quality in the borough is one of our highest priorities. The consultation will allow all those with an interest to make comment or put forward other options.

“We are also working on different ways to improve air quality for communities across our borough. This includes adopting and implementing our air quality strategy, launching the green travel network easitGUILDFORD, as well as our ongoing partnership with the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE).

“The council has a duty to monitor air quality in the borough. If air quality does not meet the national standard, we will draft an action plan to improve the air quality in that area.”

Cllr Joss Bigmore

Joss Bigmore (Christchurch), leader of the Residents for Guildford and Villages Party, added: “The council can never do enough to improve Air Quality, we must strive to ensure that we all have the cleanest air possible to breathe.

Alongside short term tactical measures we need to provide our residents with effective alternatives to car use. In the longer term, we must make the best use of the opportunity the Town Centre Masterplan gives us to separate cars from people.

The Shalford consultation runs from September 19 till October and can be found at here.

The final AQAP will be presented to the December 11, 2019 Guildford Joint Committee for approval.

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Responses to Green Councillors Slam Council’s Consultation On Air Quality Action Plan For Shalford 

  1. John Ferns Reply

    September 21, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    “…The main source of emissions in Shalford is from road traffic, exacerbated by the properties being close to the carriageway which reduces dispersion of emissions. Tests had shown levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exceeded national guidelines…”

    Even more so in Ash and Tongham where properties are closer to the highway. Add that to their close proximity with the increasing use of the A331 and there is even greater opportunity to add to the burden on The Street and Ash Road, past two primary schools, en route to the newly proposed bridge over the railway by Ash Station.

    Enough, we say. Enough. Increasing the capacity is not an answer; it never was. Enough damage has been done to the infrastructure already within the west of the borough, courtesy, or otherwise, of the maestros in Surrey Highways who are completely blinded by the findings of their “modelling”.

  2. Jim Allen Reply

    September 21, 2019 at 8:42 pm

    I do wish councillors would quote accurate figures the local plan is for approximately 14,500 house, not 10,000. It could even be 17,000 if all developments have a 25% uplift as the recent one at Send. And it could, therefore, be 47,500 cars, not 20,000. Slow vehicles increase pollution due to the vehicles remaining in a given area longer. So a failure to increase road capacity will increase pollution.

    The measured pollution levels at Ripley and Compton suggest Burpham is far more polluted, with heavier traffic flows but no one has seen fit to measure it with the “expensive” kit.

  3. Mike Murphy Reply

    September 22, 2019 at 3:19 pm

    It looks as if we got rid of the dreadful leadership of Cllrs Spooner and Furniss and have got Lib Dem clones who are carrying on the rape of our green belt by adding thousands more houses. This will add massive pollution to our already badly polluted area.

    In Send, the measured pollution on the main road is well above the minimum level allowed at peak times. With the hundreds of houses, business units and Traveller plots being planned in the dreadful Guildford Local Plan the levels will obviously be greatly increased.

    Thank you Tories and Lib Dems. You still seem to be working in coalition.

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