Tuesday 19th March 2024
There’s some decent news coming out of Colchester City Council regarding air quality. It makes a change from having the hot air often seen at Full Council.
The four Air Quality Management Areas that were identified in 2012 are now down to slightly less than one.
The Environment and Sustainability Panel will consider the latest data when it next meets at the Town Hall on 21st March.
An Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) is a localised area where the pollutants coming from cars is identified as being a concern for residents.
It wasn’t looking good in 2012 with the four areas identified in the borough.
To be fair to the City Council, various administrations have addressed this over to the years, leading to some positive outcomes.
In 2018 AQMA 3 at St Andrews Avenue and Harwich Road was revoked. East Street and Ipswich Road both followed in 2023.
Ipswich Road is something of a surprise, given the standstill traffic due to the roundabout road works at the time.
Lucy Lane North in Stanway also had the dreaded AQMA status lifted last year.
Which brings us up to date with the one remaining AQMA in the borough in the centre of the city. This isn’t being permanently lifted, but it is being reduced.
Still causing concern when it comes to polluting cars are Brook Street, Osborne Street, St Johns Street and Mersea Road.
And so how have we got here?
It’s all about policy, innit.
Praise for the City Council in identifying the air quality hotspots, and then acting to successfully reduce them.
This started back in 2012 with the Love Your Car campaign. We always thought it was a bit of a crappy strapline for a policy that was aimed at reducing car travel.
£35,000 of Defra funding helped to push the policy which promoted car sharing and eco driving.
The Clean Vehicle Technology Fund stumped up £194,000 in 2015. This was used to retrofit ten commercially operated buses around the borough.
A further £137,453 funding application to the Energy Trust was successful in 2020. This money was used to buy a fleet of ecargo bikes for business use.
Also in 2020 was a £248,700 Defra supported scheme to help set up an electric car club, as well as build two ecargo bike hubs.
In 2021 Defra stepped in again with £188,587 to trial an ecargo bike concierge service to transport shopping direct to the homes of residents.
The Environment and Sustainability Panel report also looks at the introduction of Tier ebikes in to the borough last year. 22,000 journeys have been made to date, covering covering 38,129 miles equating to a NOx saving of 7.6 tonnes.
The eScooters have ridden 562,392 miles since their introduction, which translates to a NOx saving of 112 tonnes.
The Panel report sets out what is to come in 2024. This includes:
“New Cycle Colchester map and website, short term hire ebike/ecargo bike scheme for residents and extensive community and business engagement.”
Elsewhere on the agenda is the Sustainable Travel Projects Update.
This includes feedback on what concerns residents have that might stop them from cycling in Colchester.
The three main barriers are:
Not feeling safe cycling on the roads
Lack of signage and disjointed cycling networks and
Bike security and theft.
Steps are being made to address this:
“Over 179 adults have received a free Cycle Training session funded by our DEFRA funding, this includes Learn to Ride, Cycle Confidence and Advanced cycle training.
15 members have joined the City Centre cargo bike pay as you go service since it launched in October. Most popular uses to date are for Leisure and shopping.”
The report adds that back in 2020, the Council was aware of only one ecargo bike in the borough. This figure is now just under 80.
One less car, etc.
The Chronic has a Patreon page over here if you want to support my work.