Local Air Quality

With regard to the new AQMA zones in Warwick and Kenilworth. Have sufficient traffic management schemes been considered?. These areas do suffer from serious peak hour traffic congestion, however at quiet times traffic congestion could probably be eased with better controls to traffic light sequences to ensure that at quiet times the traffic can flow more freely.

I would like to raise three specific areas in respect of the above consultation which closes this PM:

1) AQMAs and
2) Impact on the rurals
3) Education

1) AQMAs. I am surprised that none of the AQMAs have been amended since March 2011 - and most of them since 2008 - nor any added, given the marked increase in traffic in the area in recent years.

Map 2. Warwick - Coventry Road. I fully support this area being designated as an AQMA. However I am somewhat surprised that the area from the Sainsbury's in Coten End to the St John's traffic lights is also not designated an AQMA, as this is constantly backed up with traffic throughout the day in a similar fashion to Coventry Road.

Map 3. Leamington Spa. I note that Lower Avenue/Bath Place is excluded from this AQMA and would like to see it included. Lower Avenue is also consistently suffering from traffic fumes often due to congestion on Avenue Road/Spencer Street. In addition in the last 12 months All Saints House supported living scheme and the first of the (affordable housing) flats at Station Approach have been occupied, increasing the number of potentially vulnerable people in these areas. Similarly Old Warwick Road outside the Station is also excluded despite suffering from constantly backed up traffic as well as having the PBSA in Station House on that part of the road designated in the AQMA.

I would like consideration to be given to examining if an AQMA needs to be considered for
i) Bridge Street in the village of Barford. This has become a rat run and the village is now congested with traffic backing up from the A429 in the afternoon/evening rush-hour
ii) Birmingham Road, Hatton Park (A4177), where the traffic is very heavy in the morning and spends a significant portion of time idling in queues backed up beyond the roundabout into Hatton Park from Stanks' Island

2) Following on from the last two points, the SDP is entirely town centric and ignores the villages/rurals totally. These areas do suffer from congestion and traffic pollution and while they may not be as bad as the worse of the towns, to ignore them completely is a major flaw in the proposed SDP and consideration should be given to air quality issues in the rurals.

In particular there is a major threat to air quality in the village of Barford and surrounding areas from the proposal by St John's College Oxford to extract sand and gravel to the south of the village. This potentially could have major detrimental effects on the health of the local population through considerably worsened air quality through dust and particle pollution.

The amount of research data is too voluminous to quote here. I will summarise the science as is currently known. First Silicosis is a preventable disease caused by the inhalation of fine particles of crystalline silica dust (invisible to the naked eye) and can progress to lung failure and death. It is also a cause of lung cancer. No effective treatment exists.

Sadly the research, although copious, is still limited by studying only workers in industries producing silica dust and not the general population i.e. residents living near such workings. In the USA the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported that there were 1437 deaths between 2001 and 2010. Several states in the US had already introduced legislation to limit exposure to silica in the late 1990's. The complicating factor is that workers wear masks and residents living nearby don't.

In fact the National Institute of Health in the USA quotes "residents near quarries of sand and gravel operations are potentially exposed to respirable crystalline silica. Citizens in Wisconsin near sand mines have found layers of silica dust on their belongings and concerned about the health of children attending a school a quarter of a mile away. People exposed to silica dust can be at risk for Silicosis even if the dust is not visible. If the dust is visible the risk is almost definite. Symptoms of Silicosis may not manifest themselves for fifteen to twenty years after exposure." Diagnostic tests do not exist in the early stages of the disease and so many sufferers probably exist but remain unrecognised. "The negative effects on health from silica dust exposure will not be fully understood for decades therefore it is essential to act now".

Another organisation "Environmental Working Group 2014" published "Danger in the Air - Concerns for Silica". This is another US based organisation specialising in research and advocacy. They state "None of the air quality standards for silica are adequate to protect people living or working within 750 to 1500 metres of sand mining sites. The danger of airborne silica is especially acute for children. Freshly crushed silica is more damaging to the lungs by producing a more severe inflammatory response as opposed to older, smoother particles weathered by heat, wind and moisture such as silica dust blown from crop land. Silica air pollution has become a danger for residents near open sand mining and processing. Children, older adults and people with co-morbid disease are especially at risk. Silica levels measured near open sand mining in Wisconsin and Minnesota were at least 10 times higher than the 0.3 micro grams/cubic metre recommended limit."

"Gravel Watch" based in Ontario, Canada Report "Recent studies show that fine particles of silica blown off site pose a greater danger to our health than better known kinds of air pollution such as smog, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. Mitigation measures for quarries in dust suppression are inadequate.

As recently as 2016 the "Royal College of Physicians and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health" here in the U.K. produced a report that "air pollution kills 40,000 people a year."This is similar in number to the number of deaths per year from breast cancer and prostate cancer. They went on to say that "air pollution can have a damaging effect from when a baby is in the womb and continue throughout life to older age contributing to cancer, asthma, heart disease and dementia". They concluded that "the concentration limits set by government and the World Health Organisation are not safe and improved air pollution monitoring through use of better technology was needed.

Even the Chinese scientists have published in the global media that atmospheric pollutants diminishes the cognition of victims who inhale it.

In Barford I think an important point is that not only is the large village school within a few hundred yards of the proposed quarry site but is directly under the flight path of the prevailing winds that will carry this invisible lethal dust over for at least nine years. Do we want to expose our children/grandchildren, elderly and infirm to this insidious and potentially fatal disease which is preventable? The science is slow coming and up to now HSE have denied there is a risk to the general population but one day it surely will admit there is a risk. Why wait when we can all do something about it now. Think of the examples of Asbestosis, thalidomide and lung cancer in cigarette smokers where decades of institutional denial has eventually buckled under the weight of science at enormous cost to life and the subsequent gargantuan litigation. Surely we have a duty of care to the children and elderly in our village to stop sand and gravel mining on our doorstep. We have reached the stage now where we shouldn't have to prove to the institutional authorities and St.John's College Oxford there is a risk. They should prove to us there is not a risk.
This major risk is entirely ignored in the SPD and presents a significant flaw as drafted. It should be included as a significant risk and given due consideration.

3) Many of the most modern vehicles have stop-start systems and they generally function well. For those of us who don't drive such a vehicle I would like to see WDC promote the concept of turning your engine off at traffic lights rather than let the engine continue to emit exhaust fumes. This was deployed in Switzerland more than 25 years ago by the use of notices at traffic lights and general education of the local population as below. I am sure that there must be English equivalents. (If there are such signs in Warwick District, then they are conspicuous by their inconspicuousness).



WDC has the authority under AQMAs to enforce no idling zones, with fixed penalty fines. But it would be much more effective generally if WDC were to promote and educate the public through usage of such signs , not just in AQMAs but across the District, and have a campaign to promote turning your engine off when in a stationery queue. And in particular WDC should be looking to enforce AQMA rules on buses that sit idling outside the Parish Church in Leamington on both sides of the road.