Download East Devon Green Party (EDGP) says the report this week by a

East Devon Green Party (EDGP) says the report this week by a
committee of MPs highlights the failure of local government, as well as
national government, to tackle poor air quality. The Environmental Audit
Committee says that air pollution is killing as many people now as it was
in the grim days of the “pea-souper smog” of the 1950s. Modern
pollution, such as nitrous oxide and particles from the wear and tear of
tyres and brakes, is not visible, but it kills 30,000 people per year in the
UK. The committee says government is evading responsibility for this
issue.
This pollution is mainly caused by road traffic, and comes from exhaust
fumes, and particles from tyres, and brakes. Honiton is one East Devon
town that is affected. Sharon Pavey, who is a Green Town Councillor for
Honiton, says “the district council says that the current below standard air
quality in Honiton is not a serious danger to health but admits that it
could aggravate some existing breathing conditions like asthma or
emphysema. We need to make changes in our town to improve air quality
like improving public transport and encouraging the replacement of short
journeys with more walking and cycling. There is also the issue of large
vehicles going up and down the High Street and talk of pedestrianising
part of this area.”
Government plans for reducing nitrous oxide pollution include financial
incentives to switch freight haulage from road to rail. Yet East Devon
councillors are set to indefinitely postpone plans for a rail freight depot in
East Devon, and give approval for a huge lorry depot instead. Local
Green Party member and farmer Henry Gent says:
“This proposal will generate hundreds of additional lorry movements
every day. Every time local government favours the supermarket
distribution system they add more haulage into food production. Like
many other farmers in the same parish as this proposed warehouse, we
used to supply potatoes into Exeter, including local Sainsburys
supermarkets. Now the only way we would get potatoes into this
proposed distribution warehouse, and thus into the local supermarkets, is
via a packhouse in Shropshire or East Anglia. Every lorry load that goes
to Shropshire and back, in order to supply Exeter, will generate air
pollution and contribute to mortality.”
The Environmental Audit Committee have also pointed out that airport
expansion will make it impossible to reach targets for the reduction of
nitrous oxide pollution. Yet the current version of the local plan is
proposing massive expansion at Exeter Airport. EDGP policy officer
Emily McIvor says “the current council are looking for the wrong sort of
economic growth: growth that will cause pollution and damage our
environment as well as our health. We should be looking for growth is
sustainable activity like green tourism and local food.”
Henry Gent, Press Officer East Devon Green Party November 17 th 2011