A TRAFFIC study, commissioned as part of the attempt to improve air quality at a pollution blackspot in Chepstow, has failed to come up with any feasible solutions, it has been claimed.
Monmouthshire County Council has to reduce air pollution in the area surrounding Hardwick Hill since tests as far back as 2007 showed that air pollution levels were found to breach European guidelines.
At a meeting of the Lower Wye Area Committee, the council's traffic network manager, Paul Keeble presented a report commissioned as part of the project to reduce air pollution in the area by 10 per cent.
But councillors said they were disappointed that it had failed to come up with any feasible solutions to a problem which has dogged the area for years.
The study concludes that one of the preferred solutions would be to re-route HGVs away from the area, given that they are one of the main causes of the pollution. Although, it was conceded that even this would not go all the way to solving the problem.
Cllr Armand Watts said: "I think the study has only really confirmed what was already our suspicions in the first place. We know that HGVs are causing much of the pollution and you say that re-routing is the preferred solution but this is not feasible - so what's the solution?" Mr Keeble said another solution would be to encourage people to make more use of public transport, but several councillors argued that that was not a realistic option.
Cllr Jacqui Sullivan, added: "We don't have sufficient public transport - there is no integrated public transport system in Chepstow at all." Cllr Watts, Cllr Sullivan and Chepstow Town Clerk, Sandra Bushell, all highlighted the issue of ongoing building development in Lower Chepstow, including a proposed new housing project on Station Road which could see an extra 400 houses built, and the Marston's pub/restaurant being built at the old Chepstow hotel site.
Speaking after the meeting Cllr Watts, said: "They have absolutely no answers and yet they are continuing to exacerbate the problem by building hundreds more houses at Fairfield Mabey."
Cllr Sullivan told the Free Press that she had attended a meeting with the council to discuss the integration of the public transport system in Chepstow. She said: "Following my meeting with Damian Weeks from MCC, we have arranged for the train timetable and the bus timetable to be in sync with each other to help make commuters' journeys more realistic.
"But this is not going to solve the problem on Hardwick Hill. We shouldn't be continuing to build in Lower Chepstow when we haven't even come up with an answer to reducing the pollution levels. If we don't look at the wider issue then we haven't gained a thing from the study."
Mr Keeble said: "The results will help inform the actions for addressing air quality on Hardwick Hill and will be considered as part of a package of measures within the emerging Air Quality Management Action Plan currently under review."
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