At the recent meeting of Bury’s ‘Full Council’ my colleague Councillor Tim Pickstone asked a question on how the Council will be addressing issues of air pollution.

We asked the question because of a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) Report which indicated nearly 8 million people a year die prematurely as a result of air pollution, including nearly a million in Europe.

In our area we have a particular issue with air pollution from the M60, one of the busiest stretches of motorway in the country. Only last November the Highways Agency admitted this at a consultation meeting on hard-shoulder-running:

“The Agency admitted that nitrogen dioxide air pollution caused by traffic fumes was already 50 percent above the regulated maximum” (source Breathe Clean Air Group).

Two years ago, local authorities took over responsibility for Public Health from the NHS. This means that the (not insignificant) budgets which go with Public Health transferred from the NHS to local council’s like Bury, and they are responsible for spending these budgets to improve the health of the local population.

Tim asked:
Is the Leader aware of the recent World Health Organisation report which found over 8 million avoidable deaths in one year from air pollution, including many in Europe. How is the Council addressing this, for example in the M60 corridor, given its public health responsibilities?

The answer, which is published in full below, gives a lot of information about the good things that are happening to see if people can reduce car use. But for us, it doesn’t really answer the problem we have in Prestwich and Whitefield (and Simister and Middleton) with air pollution from the M60.

Given that Council’s have a public health responsibiltiy now, we don’t think it is enough to just say that Motorway’s are the ‘Government’s responsibility’.

Here is the answer in full, and I would be interested to hear people’s views.

Donal

“We continue to work with neighbouring councils and partners at Transport for Greater Manchester to reduce emissions from motor vehicles by encouraging walking, cycling and the use of public transport. Recent actions and achievements include:-
• Improvement of the National Cycle Route 6 at Outwood and Chamberhall. We now have 64 miles of highway cycle lanes in Bury.
• The Cycle hub at Bury Interchange was opened in late 2012 and cycle parking facilities have been improved at our Metrolink stations.
• Continued expansion of the Metrolink network to take cars off our busy commuter routes
• Planning permission was granted to extend the Park and Ride car parks at Whitefield and Metrolink stations.
• Local Sustainable Transport Fund has awarded funding to Transport for Greater Manchester to promote and increase low carbon commuting.
• Under the Greater Manchester Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Scheme, electric vehicle charging points were installed in 7 of Bury’s council car parks in 2013.
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• 109 council drivers will receive Eco Driver training as part of the Driver CPC Training requirements for drivers of vehicles over 3.5 tonnes
• From 2013 to 2016 the council are running a 3 year programme to introduce 20mph zones or speed limits within a majority of residential areas in Bury. This may involve up to 50 separate schemes with priority given to areas around schools or where there are “rat runs”. So far 7 schemes have been introduced on site
• Launch of a Greater Manchester car sharing database http://www.carsharegm.com.
The M60 is a significant source of pollution in our region and assessments by DEFRA have indicated that sections of this motorway along with 16 other areas in the UK will not meet EU targets in the required timescales. Central Government are responsible for meeting these targets and it is Central government’s Highways Agency who has responsibility for the M60. DEFRA have therefore made it clear that they will be working very closely with The Highways Agency with the help of Greater Manchester councils where necessary, to make sure that the EU air quality targets are met by 2020.

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