Would you please provide me with details of any environment impact assessments for these schemes in Exeter.
It seems that some public consultation was carried out but was the environmental and health impact taken into account of causing more traffic, congestion and air pollution and harm to health for those residents living near main routes which are taking more traffic? Air pollution from increased traffic appears to have been pushed from better off areas to routes already experiencing high levels of traffic pollution. Exacerbating environmental and health inequalities?
The environmental impacts of the schemes are considered in the Equality Impact assessments produced for the temporary traffic measures, and are available below:
For any permanent changes, the environmental impacts are included in the relevant Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HaTOC) reports. Available from Browse meetings – Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee – Democracy in Devon.
An example is the HaTOC report, of 13th October 2020, which for convenience is reproduced below:
The measures proposed in this report are designed to encourage walking and cycling, particularly for short trips within residential areas, enabling convenient, safer access to schools, public open space and jobs.
There may be slight negative impacts at certain locations, due to traffic being displaced onto other roads and increasing distance travelled on some car journeys. However by creating better conditions for walking and cycling, and supporting the aims of the draft Transport Strategy for 50% of trips by walking and cycling, it is expected that some people will choose to switch modes rather than simply changing their driving route, meaning total traffic on the road network is expected to reduce as a result of the schemes.
It is therefore expected that the schemes will deliver environmental benefits and contribute to the County Council’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Air pollution is monitored by Exeter City Council- details of which can be found here Air quality monitoring – Exeter City Council. The monitoring stations primarily record an annual average, and therefore the impacts of national lockdowns and changes in the mix of vehicle fleet (i.e. increasing uptake of EV) may mask any changes as a result of the traffic changes.
In addition was the effect on emergency services response times taken into account? Last week I witnessed a police car having to drive over a plastic barrier down a public footpath and alleyway because they found the road is now blocked at Bennington Grove This suggests an issue for emergency services.
With regards Emergency services, response times were one of the factors in introducing changes away from the main arterial routes into the city and where there are alternative routes so that vehicle access is still possible. The emergency services were notified for the temporary traffic orders introduced in June 2020 and we have not had any concerns from the emergency/blue light services. The emergency services are notified of the advertisement of any Traffic Regulation Order, and for Homefield Road and Park Place did not raise any objection.