BCBC’s Cabinet will receive an update this week on air quality management on Park Street in Bridgend (pdf).
As you already know, there’s been concerns about breaches of nitrogen dioxide limits along Park Street for several years.
The council is required to institute an Air Quality Action Plan but this has stalled for several reasons – notably the pandemic. The deadline to prepare a plan was originally extended by the Welsh Government to 31st March. This has been further pushed back until 30th September 2022.
Several proposals have been put forward, but one of them – creating a signalised junction at Heol-y-Nant – was ruled out.
The three other proposals taken forward include creating a right-turn lane into Heol-y-Nant, closing St Leonard’s Road to traffic (from Park Street) and re-phasing traffic lights at the Angel Street junction.
Figures in the report suggest these three measures would cut air pollution to below the limit – by 2023 – if implemented this year.
Update: A local residents group has published their own assessment of the report’s provisional findings (pdf). They’ve requested clarification on several points from BCBC including why breaches continued at some monitoring stations during the pandemic, full future traffic projections as well as more detailed data used to justify the options BCBC have taken forward.
