Comments on: Black Friday, Smoggy Saturday…

By: Paul Bennison

Paul Bennison — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 19:39:35 +0000

Whilst everyone would agree that a well run, integrated, frequent and value for money Metro system is a part of the solution for Newcastle Transport, it doesn’t help when Nexus reduce the the number of morning peak trains from Regents Centre into Newcastle and beyond by 25% as they have today and with a third of those remaining being able to be cancelled without any affect on them running a ‘good service’. I wonder what effect this will have on the number of vehicles running along GHS and elsewhere at peak times?

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 02:20:20 +0000

In reply to Paul Roberts.

I guess there multiple things that could be done (provided brave politics…)

1. Ban all Diesel engines from high pollution zones (>40 NO2 average) starting 2018
2. Change all public transportation to electric
3. Taxis should be Hybrids
4. Disallow car traffic with only 1 passenger between certain times (eg 8-9 am) in high pollution zones
5. Inflict high penalties (higher than parking tickets in Gosforth)

I have seen some of these measures been taken in cities like Stockholm already 25 years agooo

By: Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 12:03:41 +0000

It seems to me that the only solution that the Council can see to reducing air pollution around Gosforth High Street is to try to speed the traffic flow through the new junction with Salters Road in a North-South-North direction. They have already changed the priority on the pedestrian crossing outside the Halifax so that pedestrians often have to wait longer and the tail back of traffic goes right the way back to the crossing outside the shopping centre. Now they propose to remove the 30/31 bus stop at the North end and have those buses stop at an enlarged bus stop opposite the Brandling. Surely this will merely result in a longer queue of buses across the bottom of Ivy road and the pedestrian crossing.
The new junction layout may have resulted in faster traffic flow across the Salters Road- Church Road direction, but it has done nothing for flow and pollution in the South/ North axis. Also, pedestrians are very confused about where to look when waiting for lights to change (why can’t we have indicator lights on the opposite side of the road?) . Also, a word of warning if you are cycling from the North and want to turn right into Salters Road; don’t go into the narrow part of the box to wait to turn, because frustrated motorists queuing to come out of town regularly shoot down the right turn lane for Church Road and then cut in at speed to go North ( I had one come within a metre of me when I was waiting).
All in all we have (in the Council) a group of headless chickens in a rush to claim straight jacket government money that can only be used to further the wrong transport policies; putting vague promises of commuter housing and ‘Northern Powerhouse’ fantasy above real planning for residents needs.

By: Bill Dodds

Bill Dodds — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 23:12:11 +0000

Whatever the figure is, I think we can all agree that it is far too high. I’d be very interested in hearing what people would like to see happen to help reduce pollution levels in Gosforth.

By: Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 17:19:50 +0000

We do all want clean air but propaganda is not really going to help the cause.

By: Susan

Susan — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 10:24:45 +0000

I saw the daily politics coverage too. It seemed to me to a bit of silly arguement, since as Andrew Neil likes to do – focus on a single statistic and try to undermine an entire campaign (whether anyone agrees with the campaign or not!). I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say? The statistic is flawed therefore pollution is ok? There is mountains of evidence from around the world that pollution is bad for you.. whether that results in 40,000 attributable deaths or 28,432 is pretty much irrelevant.

We all just want clean air and in particular for our children.

By: SPACE for Gosforth

SPACE for Gosforth — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 20:59:55 +0000

In reply to Michael Gordon.

Thanks for the comment Michael. Just for reference, the figure of 40,000 deaths was taken from a report by the Royal College of Physicians entitled ‘Every Breath we Take’. You are right to say that pollution isn’t listed on death certificates however it is still possible to estimate the number of deaths. This is just the same as smoking which is also known to be a cause of lung disease but rarely itself listed on death certificates.

This is the link for the report.
https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/projects/outputs/every-breath-we-take-lifelong-impact-air-pollution

By: Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 16:37:15 +0000

I would guess we would all like to see air pollution reduced.
However, you have repeated the assertion that 40,000 deaths are due to air pollution. There was an interview on the Sunday Politics last Sunday. Andrew Neill interrogated the Greenpeace chief and this claim was demolished. It doesn’t have ‘air pollution’ as the main reason for death on a death certificate. Air pollution can have a contributory factor especially if someone has breathing problems already.
We were all told a few years ago that diesel cars were preferable to petrol. We now know that the emissions tests on some cars were essentially faked. So, we are back to square one on that issue.
Looking at the emissions near Salters car park it is clear that emissions are some of the highest during the School run. There must be some determined action to reduce the numbers being driven to school by various initiatives otherwise everything expended about this air pollution problem is just hot air.