Issue - meetings

The Committee received a presentation from the Project Manager (Milton Road and Histon Road).

 

The presentation outlined:

      i.         Histon Road works had started, vegetation had been cleared and new hedges would be planted in the next couple of weeks.

    ii.         Work on Milton Road would not commence until works on Histon Road had been completed. The design process had slowed down, more time was being spent looking at drainage.

   iii.         Had looked to put in swales on Milton Road but this had proved problematic as property levels were lower than the carriageway.  They did not want to displace water into properties.

  iv.         Was looking to take a report back to the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) Board in October.

    v.         Confirmed that another Local Liaison Forum would be held to consider landscaping, public art and the shopping area.

  vi.         Noted that the Combined Authority Mayor had taken over responsibility for the Waterbeach to Cambridge project.

 vii.         Referred people to look at the CAM metro consultation, which had recently been launched by the Combined Authority.

 

A member of the public made the following comments and asked a couple of questions, as set out below.

 

1.     The Histon Road Resident’s Association (HRARA) were please that Cllr Todd-Jones had raised the questions regarding air pollution on Histon Road with GCP Paul van de Bulk.  Since that time a further question has been raised with the GCP Joint Assembly on January 30th regarding inclusion of Histon Road in the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) and they replied that the CAZ is one of the options and that the Joint Assembly and Executive Board will need to consider the alternatives open to them and determine next steps.

 

The reply from the project Manager regarding the monitoring of air pollution on Histon Road only answers half of the concerns with the health and welfare of the residents in the Histon Road area.  55% of roadside traffic pollution is made of non-exhaust particulates such as brake, tyre, and road surface wear.  The Air Quality Projects Officer at the City Council reports in the 2019 Annual Status Report that the particulate matter has risen rather than slowing down (PM10 and PM2,5).  Particulates cannot be measured using diffusion tubes, those tubes can only be used to measure NO2. 

 

There are 2 diffusion tubes for NO2 on Histon Road, DT2 and DT24 and 1 on Victoria Road by Prince Willian Court DT21.  The position of the tubes by the roof tops is in question by scientists at a conference in the University of Westminster just now.  It is more logical to monitor where the breathing takes place, by cyclists, pedestrians and babies in prams. 

 

There is no monitoring of particulates on Histon Road.  The nearest is in Orchard Park for PM2.5, a further one is at the Junction Girton/Huntingdon Road for both PM10 and PM2.5.

 

Both Histon Road and Milton Road were promised by the GCP Executive Board that air pollution should be measured before, during and after the construction works and that the results should be easily available to the public.  HRARA had expected to receive monthly graphs with the monitored results NO2 and particulates similar to LAQM Annual Status Report, from GCP starting from January 27th 2020.

 

1.      When will GCP publish the proper reports?

2.      When will particulate monitoring be installed on Histon Road?

 

Councillor Manning had put in a bid for a sensor (University project) which would provide the sensors being sought.

 

The Project Manager (Milton Road and Histon Road) made the following comments:

i.               In terms of managing Histon Road, he was reliant on what the City Council’s Scientific Officers required. Their view was that current monitoring equipment was sufficient.  Particulate monitoring was new.  Installing new monitoring stations would not necessarily provide more information and there was a cost and maintenance issue associated with this. Commented that this issue really needed to be taken up with the City Council’s Scientific Officers.

 

Action: Councillor Todd-Jones agreed to follow this matter up with representatives of the Histon Road Resident’s Association (HRARA).

 

2.Histon Road Resident’s Association (HRARA) asked at the latest information meeting regarding the Histon Road project we were informed that there might be some bus service available on the road.  GCP have been discussing with Stagecoach, present at the meeting and they were asking the if the audience had any proposals for the route. Since then we have heard that the discussions are going on but no solution found.

 

The closure was anticipated to start at the time A14diversion traffic was stopped from junction 32 probably beginning of May. That is 10 weeks from today.

 

When will GCP be able to present a temporary route replacing the Citi8 bus?

 

Action:  Paul Van de Bulk to provide an update on whether GCP will be able to present a temporary route replacing Citi8 bus during the Histon Road inbound lane closure.