As one of the cities that have been exceeding the EU defined air quality limits, the City Council is under pressure from the Government to make changes to ensure the city within the designated limits.
Air quality is poor across the city but there is only one location where the modelled NOx measurements exceed the legal limits (Stafford Street). The city could address the exceedances in many ways but have chosen to move the existing congestion around so that the pollution is spread over a wider area and thus the Stafford Street location measurement is just below the limit.
Other cities have implemented various schemes to limit traffic within the city but Derby City Council are unwilling to implement this.
Instead they have planned changes to the roads around Friargate and Stafford Street to move the existing traffic. A side effect of this is that existing cycle facilities (including a bus / cycle lane on Friargate) will be removed.
The conclusion is “Derby City Council addresses air quality by removing cycle facilities” !
After discussions with the Council early in 2019 we’ve undertaken a campaign to ask the membership to pass on their views to both the local Council and the national decision making bodies (DEFRA and the responsible ministers). See here and here.
To demonstrate the strength of feeling we held a protest in February on Friargate which was covered by national press and local TV.
If you have any comments or want to get more involved with this project then please contact Tony Roelich
