10:02am Friday 12th March 2010
By Reader's letter
Chantel Frances (Letters, March 8) rightly questions the assumption that traffic levels in York must continue to grow.
The Climate Change Act requires councils to plan for year-on-year cuts to CO2 emissions, and air quality legislation requires us to meet the annual average maximum safe levels of exposure to NO2 this month.
Places like Gillygate, Fishergate gyratory and Nunnery Lane have shown rising pollution levels since 2006, and new locations such as Fulford Main Street are now showing levels that breach the annual average threshold. Yet the solutions are staring us in the face.
Since Gillygate closed to all but access and emergency vehicles a week ago for essential repairs, traffic levels at these key locations have dropped significantly. Some displaced traffic will be creating problems elsewhere, but other people will have chosen to walk, cycle, car share, retime their journey or use the A64.
It will be interesting to know what impact the closure has had on pollution and congestion statistics over the period, and whether a peak-time closure or a “congestion charge”, cutting out unrestricted use of the through route between York St John and Lendal Bridge could be worth studying. Trial closures would also be more immediate and cheaper than months of inconclusive computer modelling and political debate.
As for Chantel’s desire for her daughter to be able to cycle with friends to school along Fulford Road, I would be interested to hear her views once the new cycle route currently under construction between Cemetery Road and Heslington Lane is complete. More children on bikes rather than in their parents’ cars will increase their fitness, help park and ride buses to get through more quickly and could also cut pollution levels.
Coun Andy D’Agorne, Fishergate ward councillor, Broadway West, York.
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