[Councillor Sarah
Broughton declared a non-pecuniary interest – husband owns
land, North-East of Bury St Edmunds, and remained in the meeting
during the discussion.
Councillor Margaret
Marks declared a non-pecuniary interest - owns property on
Withersfield Road, Haverhill, and remained in the meeting during
the discussion].
The Committee received Report No:
LIC/SE/18/004, which reported on work undertaken during 2017 to
meet Local Air Quality Regulations across the Borough, including
specific work in relation to the Great Barton Air Quality
Management Area.
Attached at Appendix 1 to the report was the
West Suffolk 2018 Air Quality Annual Status Report, which followed
the required format by the Department for the Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs (Defra).
For the majority of the Borough, it was
reported that air quality remained good, being below national
limits, and continued to show a long-term trend of slight
year-on-year improvement. However,
there was one monitored location in the Borough which was above the
national annual mean objective for nitrogen dioxide in
2017. This being located in the newly
formed Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) of Sicklesmere Road, Bury
St Edmunds.
Although levels of measured pollutants in all
areas of St Edmundsbury remained in compliance with the national
objectives, officers were aware that there were negative health
impacts related to lower concentrations of certain pollutants,
especially particulates. Therefore,
work would continue to monitor and improve air quality further.
Attached at Appendix 2 to the report was the
Draft Great Barton Air Quality Management Area Action Plan, which
had been developed with the support of a steering group that had
met on a number of occasions. A number
of measures had been considered, some of which were not being
pursued presently due to currently being impractical or not having
a reasonable funding source. However, a
number of measures were being investigated, as detailed in the
Action Plan. These included moving the
pedestrian crossing, which was currently located immediately
adjacent to the AQMA, and improvements to the Thurston Road
(Bunbury Arms) Junction of the A143.
Both of which were being investigated in conjunction with the
Suffolk County Highways officer.
The report also included information on the
Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) weight restriction on the A1088 between
Ixworth and Elmswell, which was primarily within Mid Suffolk
administrative area. As a result of
this restriction some HGV were not able to use the A1088 when
trying to reach the A14, consequently forcing HGVs to use a longer
route, often through Great Barton.
Officers were making a request to Suffolk County Council Highways
to review the HGV restrictions along the A1088, asking for
confirmation of the environmental impacts that this restriction
supports and how they were judged to outweigh the air quality
concerns in Great Barton.
The Chairman then invited Councillor Jim
Thorndyke, Ward Member for Stanton to address the Committee in
respect of this item. He thanked the
Committee for allowing him to speak. He
then set out his concerns regarding information contained within
paragraphs 3.5 and 3.6 of the covering report ...
view the full minutes text for item 97.