THERE have been clear winners and losers from the temporary closure of Gillygate in York.

The one-week closure for water mains repairs caused traffic delays elsewhere in the city as drivers had to find new routes to their destinations.

Monitoring showed that the area around Burton Stone Lane and even in the east of the city around Foss Islands Road endured heavier traffic volumes.

Drivers, taxis and bus passengers, therefore were the main losers.

It was a different story however for pedestrians, shop owners and residents of Gillygate – their air quality improved dramatically over the same time.

Figures from a City of York Council pollution monitoring station illustrate that while the street was closed during the last week of April, pollution levels dropped significantly.

This has led to Green city councillor Denise Craghill calling for a full or partial closure of Gillygate to improve air quality in the area.

Such a suggestion is bound to be controversial. Gillygate is part of the city’s inner ring road, a road thousands of us rely on every day to get across York. As such, it is one of our busiest and most congested thoroughfares.

Yet we are all paying a hefty price for such congestion: our health. Studies suggest air pollution contributes to about 40,000 early deaths every year in the UK, While there is no suggestion at this time that Cllr Craghill’s proposal will be considered by the council, it is going to take bold ideas and the building of a popular consensus to reduce our love affair with the car and let us breathe more easily.