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Storrington Air Quality
The plot (air) thickens We have done some digging Thank you to everyone who has been in contact with supportive messages since we highlighted this issue a couple of months ago. A brief history In a review of air quality in the District in 2000, Horsham District Council (HDC) reported, “The main conclusion was that the national air quality objectives were not likely to be exceeded at any location in the District.” The same conclusion was reached each year until 2007, when it reported that Storrington was exceeding the target for nitrogen dioxide. Air quality monitoring stations were installed, and upgraded in 2009. In 2010 the report recommended an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) be declared for Storrington as emissions were being exceeded by up to 137%. It recommended that an Action Plan be completed and an Air Quality Steering Group was formed. This consisted of representatives from WSCC, HDC and Storrington Parish Council with other interested parties. Its 2012 Action Plan stated “(Storrington) has areas of poor air quality predominantly attributable to traffic emissions” and that “emissions would need to be reduced by approximately 40% to meet the UK AQ objective.” It is clear therefore that “the Storrington Action Plan needs to be both ambitious and well researched to achieve any significant improvements in air quality.” Suggestions for various improvements and impact assessments were handed to consultants, who reported in January 2013 “….the (Nitrogen Dioxide NO2) 40 µg.m-3 air quality objective is currently being exceeded at many locations where relevant human exposure exists within Storrington. The worst case locations are where traffic is often slow moving and congestion is known to occur close to the main junctions in Storrington and along the High Street. “ Nine scenarios from the Action Plan were modelled, including a “business as usual” scenario which assumed nothing was done. It concluded that there would be an improvement in NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide) emissions as cars became more efficient. Other suggestions, such as installing a “shared surface in Old Mill Drive, imposing a 20mph speed restriction and opening Nightingale Lane to through traffic, were all modelled with the conclusion that these would make negligible difference. Similarly, a reduction of 75% of HGVs in the village would be needed to achieve less than the “safe” NO2 target of under 40 µg.m-3. However, two suggestions were found to have the potential to solve the problem if adopted. 1. Low Emission Zone (LEZ). This would “limit access to the village for specific vehicle types not meeting specified emission standards (e.g. Euro V).” This would bring all emissions under the required level. A monitoring trial was set up in 2014, but ended due to
problems with collecting data due to unreliable mobile phone data connection, according to an unattributed and undated document on the HDC website. 2. “Gating”. This would see traffic lights installed on the fringes of the village to dynamically control the inflow of traffic, thereby allowing free flow through the centre. Free flowing traffic causes less pollution than queuing traffic. The report says, “The likely effect of the gating options on congestion in the town is not known”. It goes on to predict that if queuing traffic were reduced by 50% or more then the 40µg.m-3 target would again be reached. A review carried out by officers of HDC and WSCC in June 2017 analysed some 18 measures to tackle the problem, two of which are those listed above. They repeated the issues with mobile phone data which stopped the LEZ trial. But, as we said to HDC this week, the mobile signal has been vastly improved since the installation of the new mast a couple of years ago, so we wonder why not try it again? Similarly, the gating idea receives short shrift. The officials state, “As it appears very unlikely that it will be possible to implement this proposal, it is not recommended that this measure is a focus of Steering Group further investigation going forward.” Why is it not possible to set up a simple trial involving temporary traffic lights for a couple of months? The Action Plan was supposed to be “ambitious and well -researched”. If two trials cannot be carried out on either of the only two proposals which can actually fix the problem, then surely that remit isn’t being addressed. Of course these and many other questions might be answered if only we had access to what the authorities are doing and thinking. When researching this article, I searched for minutes of the Air Quality Steering Group, whose members include Parish Council Chair Anna Worthington-Lees and HDC Leader Ray Dawe. Apparently their meetings, which take place on an ad-hoc basis maybe “once or twice a year”, are informal and not recorded. So the latest document available to us seems to be from 2017. In the meantime, some welcome news from Storrington Parish Council. Richard Evea, Chair of the Environment Committee has disbanded the spurious Air Quality Working Party in favour of simply letting the Committee itself work on the issue, with a “champion” for Air Quality and another for the wider Climate Change issues. Your views are welcome - info@sussexlocal.net
