Ashley Road to get extra pollution control after failing toxic gas tests

9:29am Tuesday 8th January 2013 in News By Diana Henderson

CONCERNS: A section of Ashley Road, Parkstone, which is to be included in the Borough of Poole Air Quality Management Area. CONCERNS: A section of Ashley Road, Parkstone, which is to be included in the Borough of Poole Air Quality Management Area.

AN area of a busy Poole commercial street, which failed a pollution test, is to be extended.

Air quality tests have found that a larger section of Ashley Road has exceeded acceptable nitrogen dioxide levels.

Borough of Poole’s environment overview and scrutiny committee will on Thursday be asked to extend the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) to under half-a-mile of the 1.2-mile long road.

Last September an area covering the Victoria Cross junction was subject to an AQMA test, with levels of 40-45 micrograms of the toxic gas exceeding the target of 40.

“This exceeded level was almost entirely the result of traffic congestion in this vicinity,” said Shaun Robson, head of environmental and consumer protection services.

Following the declaration of the area, the council was required to undertake a further assessment and produce an action plan.

“The further assessment was completed in September 2012 and has shown an extension of the original AQMA is required, which has also been confirmed by Defra on submission of the report,” he said.

The area will extend in both directions from just beyond Granville Road to the Jubilee Road junction and schemes to alleviate traffic congestion will form the main emphasis of the action plan.

Richard Wilson, chairman of Ashley Road Traders’ Association, whose shop Bookworm Books is near the Richmond Road junction said: “The air quality is bad.

“ If you leave the cleaning for a week you can really see the black dust inside the shop.

“It has been bad for a long time.

“I hope they will do something about it,” he said.

The council has more than £1million from the government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund to spend on improvements to Ashley Road and is consulting the community to identify problems that need tackling such as congestion, bus services, public spaces, parking and air quality.

“We need to promote public transport and get people to use buses as opposed to cars,” said Mr Wilson.

“And we need more trees, that would hopefully improve air quality.”

Comments(24)

steveatbournemouth says...
9:37am Tue 8 Jan 13

In my opinion the reason is due to traffic having to wait far too long at the traffic signals due to so many movements at the junction. The signal timings should be looked at & the number of vehicles parked in loading bays not actually loading creates queues so more enforcement is required. Hope that helps.

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Old Colonial says...
9:41am Tue 8 Jan 13

steveatbournemouth wrote:
In my opinion the reason is due to traffic having to wait far too long at the traffic signals due to so many movements at the junction. The signal timings should be looked at & the number of vehicles parked in loading bays not actually loading creates queues so more enforcement is required. Hope that helps.
Yes, all very logical, correct, and economically sound. However, only expensive, complex schemes, causing as much inconvenience to the majority, are likely to be considered and implemented.

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paul.p says...
9:46am Tue 8 Jan 13

Second time around...lets see what they come up with.

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Jake@Jem says...
9:49am Tue 8 Jan 13

I work and have worked in Ashley Rd for years and the amount of traffic signals is ridiculous. From Sea View to Frizzell there must be 20 sets of lights. No wonder the traffic builds up creating this amount of pollution

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David Hayes says...
10:13am Tue 8 Jan 13

Jake@Jem wrote:
I work and have worked in Ashley Rd for years and the amount of traffic signals is ridiculous. From Sea View to Frizzell there must be 20 sets of lights. No wonder the traffic builds up creating this amount of pollution
They re all sat in their cars outside watching the footy on TV in your window

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David Hayes says...
10:13am Tue 8 Jan 13

Jake@Jem wrote:
I work and have worked in Ashley Rd for years and the amount of traffic signals is ridiculous. From Sea View to Frizzell there must be 20 sets of lights. No wonder the traffic builds up creating this amount of pollution
They re all sat in their cars outside watching the footy on TV in your window

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l'anglais says...
10:16am Tue 8 Jan 13

Pollution is a direct result of poor town planning 40 years ago when then Wessex Way was being built.

Why is there no dual carriageway link between Poole and Bournemouth?

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David Hayes says...
10:21am Tue 8 Jan 13

I think there are too many buses using Ashley road during the day ...and as someone has already alluded too, there is a problem with the flow at the churchill road/richmond road traffic lights

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Arthur Maureen says...
10:34am Tue 8 Jan 13

steveatbournemouth wrote:
In my opinion the reason is due to traffic having to wait far too long at the traffic signals due to so many movements at the junction. The signal timings should be looked at & the number of vehicles parked in loading bays not actually loading creates queues so more enforcement is required. Hope that helps.
Completely agree, live and work nr Ashley Rd and for example heading westbound from Waitrose to KFC there are always commercial vehicles blocking the road, often not loading / unloading and causing congestion behind. Can't help having to load / unload but the time taken is often the issue. Also the number of lights from sea view to county gates adds to traffic hold ups.

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jeebuscripes says...
10:35am Tue 8 Jan 13

This is one of the main links between the two towns. As people are intent on using their cars, it is inevitable that there will be pollution.

What will this further assessment show? That there is pollution coming from all of the stationary cars?

Promoting cheaper and more convenient public transport, and by making cycling in the conurbation safer is the way forward.

Maybe restricting access to some of the side roads, which would mean some of the traffic lights could be removed would be an answer.

Or, put in a roundabout along the route?

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muscliffman says...
10:49am Tue 8 Jan 13

l'anglais wrote:
Pollution is a direct result of poor town planning 40 years ago when then Wessex Way was being built.

Why is there no dual carriageway link between Poole and Bournemouth?
Fair point, the traffic would indeed be elsewhere.

But maybe this is more about 'green' jobsworths hearing 'redundancy and savings' clunks from the loosening wheels of their previously fashionable and lucrative bandwagon.

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Fred the gnome says...
10:50am Tue 8 Jan 13

David Hayes wrote:
I think there are too many buses using Ashley road during the day ...and as someone has already alluded too, there is a problem with the flow at the churchill road/richmond road traffic lights
Good point. Ashley Road is surely nowadays oversubscribed with buses compared to other main roads in the Parkstone area. If the bus companies switched some of their routes to run via Bournemouth Road and/or Penn Hill Avenue (as in the days of the W&D 101 and 102 routes) it would provide Lower Parkstone with a much better service than the present paltry level as well as help relieve the dire congestion all the way along Ashley Road.

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John T says...
11:06am Tue 8 Jan 13

Fred the gnome wrote:
David Hayes wrote:
I think there are too many buses using Ashley road during the day ...and as someone has already alluded too, there is a problem with the flow at the churchill road/richmond road traffic lights
Good point. Ashley Road is surely nowadays oversubscribed with buses compared to other main roads in the Parkstone area. If the bus companies switched some of their routes to run via Bournemouth Road and/or Penn Hill Avenue (as in the days of the W&D 101 and 102 routes) it would provide Lower Parkstone with a much better service than the present paltry level as well as help relieve the dire congestion all the way along Ashley Road.
I agree entirely, and have never understood why there are now no major bus routes along Bournemouth Road between what was St Osmunds Church and Pottery Roundabout, Branksome. Could somebody explain why this should be?
If, as they are, Council Taxpayers in Lower Parkstone are paying to subsidise local bus services, then surely they deserve a better bus service.They are not all able to drive a car or ride a bike, as the assumption seems to be

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John T says...
11:11am Tue 8 Jan 13

Fred the gnome wrote:
David Hayes wrote:
I think there are too many buses using Ashley road during the day ...and as someone has already alluded too, there is a problem with the flow at the churchill road/richmond road traffic lights
Good point. Ashley Road is surely nowadays oversubscribed with buses compared to other main roads in the Parkstone area. If the bus companies switched some of their routes to run via Bournemouth Road and/or Penn Hill Avenue (as in the days of the W&D 101 and 102 routes) it would provide Lower Parkstone with a much better service than the present paltry level as well as help relieve the dire congestion all the way along Ashley Road.
I agree entirely, and have never understood why there are now no major bus routes along Bournemouth Road between what was St Osmunds Church and Pottery Roundabout, Branksome. Could somebody explain why this should be?
If, as they are, Council Taxpayers in Lower Parkstone are paying to subsidise local bus services, then surely they deserve a better bus service.They are not all able to drive a car or ride a bike, as the assumption seems to be

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John T says...
11:17am Tue 8 Jan 13

Apologies for adding to the congestion on this site, but I would also add that the Echo photograph quite typically shows about 20 moving (sic) cars, the people in which, I suggest could easily be accommodated in the two buses in the photograph.

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Victor_Meldrew_Lives! says...
1:09pm Tue 8 Jan 13

Also for consideration is that many of the side roads have speed bumps/chicanes dotted along them and so therefore people - rather than endure them - will use Ashley road.
I know that probably opens up another can of worms but it is a fact.

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shelfstacker says...
2:39pm Tue 8 Jan 13

Great news! It's hard enough to attract people to shop along the Ashley Road as it is what with it's colourful collection of tramps, drunks and drug addicts hanging around every bench and street corner. Now we've got toxic gas to scare people off as well! Effing fantastic!

As a local trader having experienced a pretty dire Christmas period this news makes me want to just pack up and go home. At least I can keep myself distracted cleaning all the toxic dust out of my shop!

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EGHH says...
4:27pm Tue 8 Jan 13

When vehicles are sitting in traffic or being driven at a slow speed, pollution will go up. Those who want 20mph limits should take note!!

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David Hayes says...
4:43pm Tue 8 Jan 13

if Ashley road was being used for shopping then fine but it is just full of tat with charity shops, hairdressers and bookies

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sw1983 says...
6:18pm Tue 8 Jan 13

I live on Ashley Road- if the pollution is this bad surely they should give us a discount on our council tax ??

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FNS-man says...
7:20pm Tue 8 Jan 13

John T wrote:
Apologies for adding to the congestion on this site, but I would also add that the Echo photograph quite typically shows about 20 moving (sic) cars, the people in which, I suggest could easily be accommodated in the two buses in the photograph.
Madness, John. It is clearly buses causing congestion that is the problem. Imagine the traffic chaos if everyone went by bus.

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John T says...
6:55am Wed 9 Jan 13

FNS-man wrote:
John T wrote:
Apologies for adding to the congestion on this site, but I would also add that the Echo photograph quite typically shows about 20 moving (sic) cars, the people in which, I suggest could easily be accommodated in the two buses in the photograph.
Madness, John. It is clearly buses causing congestion that is the problem. Imagine the traffic chaos if everyone went by bus.
FNS

I suggest you just compare the space taken up by the buses in the photograph with that taken up by the cars, many of which probably have only one occupant; that way you will get the real measure of the size of Ashley Road's congestion problems.

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sw1983 says...
10:11am Wed 9 Jan 13

There's up to 6 buses at once out side the co-op, this is even worse at lunch times, then there is usually another 2 outside st johns church/waitrose, as a resident I agree that buses cause alot of the congestion, and also there is far too many traffic lights i could count at least 7 or 8 sets of lights along ashley road- traffic is constantly at a stand still, what i find most outrageous is the fact that none of the residents have been told about the air quality and the only reason i know is because ive seen it on this website - ive lived here for ten years and raise my children here and had no idea about this problem!!!

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a_reasonable_person says...
8:05pm Wed 9 Jan 13

Parkstone could be a place of community presence, with good quality shops and outlets. If the traffic system could be reviewed, to make the area a more pedestrain friendly rather than a motor car dominanted area. Lets improve the area, with the assistance of the Council rather than critising them at every turn. Doing so is not very constructive or solve its problems....

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