South Devon Highway 'cured' air quality issues for Kingskerswell
Since the bypass opened in 2015, levels of pollution have dropped 'like a stone'
Construction of the South Devon Highway has ‘cured’ the air quality issues that had beset Kingskerswell.
Levels of pollution in the village had been so bad prior to the construction of the new £110m road that it had been designated as an Air Quality Management Area (AGMA) where statutory monitoring of pollution had to be carried.
But since the bypass opened in 2015, levels of pollution have dropped ‘like a stone’ and to a level that air quality is no longer considered problematic.
Teignbridge District Council’s executive on Tuesday morning heard traffic pollution levels in Kingskerswell, as well as in the Iddesleigh Terrace area of Dawlish, are such that they are now consistently year-on-year well below government guidelines.
As a result, they unanimously agreed they were satisfied that the air quality standards and objectives are being achieved and are likely to continue within the area of Kingskerswell and Dawlish and agreed to revoke the statutory AQMAs for the two areas.
The data for Dawlish Air Quality Management Area showed that in the three consecutive years of ratified data the levels have been well below the national objective, and the trend has continued unchanged into 2019.
And in Kingskerswell, traffic pollution levels within the Kingskerswell AQMA have dropped significantly following the completion of the South Devon Highway in 2015 that bypasses the village, and now meet the criteria to revoke the Air Quality Managment Area.
Cllr Alistair Dehwirst, executive member for the environment, told Tuesday’s meeting that the pollution levels have dropped to the level that the AQMAs can be revoked, and that there was confidence that there was no longer the need for statutory monitoring of the levels and a confidence that levels wouldn’t rise again.
He said: “The problems in Kingskerswell have been cured the highway and the levels of COPD in Kingskerswell have dropped like a stone.”
He also added that the council continues to support actions to further reduce air quality levels across the district including Electric Vehicle Charging schemes, mitigating the impact of new development and working with the climate change officer on projects that improve both population exposure to air quality and reduce carbon.
Cllr Dewhirst added: “This council takes air quality very seriously and has done for many, many years. We are coming up with action plans to tackle the issues and any money saved from this will be used on other air quality work.”