Petition launched over concerns with Bath Clean Air Zone

By local democracy reporter Matthew McLaughlin

A PETITION has been launched to get Bath council to work with Wiltshire over concerns of increased air pollution in the county as a result of the Clean Air Zone.

Councillor, Phil Alford, who represents Melksham Without North started the petition “stop polluting Wiltshire Roads with Bath CAZ traffic” to hold the Somerset authority to task.

To date, the petition has been backed by more than 300 people and asked the Bath & North East Somerset Council to work with Wiltshire in monitoring concerns over air pollution from increased HGV traffic.

Cllr Alford said, while Bath has an air quality issue, it should be working with its neighbouring local authorities. He said: “The analysis they have is partly based on subjective evidence and they are in denial about the likelihood of traffic avoiding the city and driving into Wiltshire.

“They claim it will only affect one truck an hour. I live in Melksham and since the closure of Cleveland Bridge in Bath there has been a noticeable increase in lorries detouring through the area.

“The idea that the CAZ will make no difference is laughable, after all the whole point of it is to reduce traffic in the city.

“It’s also grossly hypocritical as Westbury and Bradford on Avon have a recognised problem.

“B&NES are not working with us on the monitoring and management of the traffic so I’ve set the petition up to show them that this is not a bureaucratic problem but it is affecting hundreds of lives.”

A spokesman for B&NES, said: “B&NES was issued with a directive by government to improve our air quality.

“The technical modelling for the CAZ was submitted and verified by both government and the Technical Independent Review Panel to ensure that the conclusions were robust.

“We requested funding from government for monitoring of air quality in West Wiltshire.

“This request was turned down. However we continue to liaise with DEFRA and wrote to the minister, on behalf of our neighbour.

“We received a letter from the Minister which suggests that while government shares the concerns expressed by Wiltshire Council they are not prepared to find separate funding for additional monitoring.

“We will continue to lobby on behalf of our neighbour.”