THE Camelford Clean Air Group met yet again for its monthly meeting on the evening of Wednesday, November 2, to discuss its findings as part of the Cornwall Council consultation process, writes Rosie Cripps.

Following last month’s meeting on October 5, members of the group paired up to deliver leaflets and knock on doors in an aim to make Camelford residents more aware of the air quality in the town, and how to take things forward.

Additionally, three members of the group recently held a display in the Old Bank during Camelford Carnival on Saturday, October 29, welcoming visitors to learn more about traffic pollution, air quality and air quality management areas, of which Camelford has recently been deemed due to reaching a concerning 62.1ug/m3.

According to town councillor Claire Hewlett, who was responsible for creating the Camelford Clean Air Group, there have been ‘well over 100 responses’, including online and written.

Cllr Helwett told the group: “From talking to people on carnival night, it seems that they know there is a problem, but they think the county council won’t do anything about it.”

Another member of the group said: “When I spoke to people, they didn’t know anything about it, but they said something seriously needs to be done about it. They seemed very annoyed that they didn’t know about the consultation.”

Another lady, who was also in attendance on carnival night, said that when she spoke to people, they all felt that the only solution would be putting a bypass in the town, but people felt that this would never be delivered by Cornwall Council due to money.

The group also discussed that the authorities are ‘taking far too long to meet air quality regulations’, and that the government’s plan to bring air pollution to legal limits by 2025 has been ‘deemed unacceptable’.

The meeting heard that, once the consultation has closed, the responses will be analysed and the formal paperwork will need to be signed by Cornwall Council’s portfolio holder for communities, Cllr Geoff Brown.

However, Cllr Hewlett told the meeting that after speaking to an officer for Cornwall Council’s environmental protection, it is expected to take between 12 and 18 months for the county council to come up with a plan.

Cllr Hewlett said: “How do we speed it up? I think once the consultation is closed, we will get our 20 members back together, and then I think it’s a case of nagging people. We need to continually nag our Cornwall Councillor, which is our mayor Rob Rotchell. We need to nag the officer for transport, and our portfolio holder for transport, Bert Biscoe, and whoever takes on office in May after the elections.

“We also need to really nag our MP, Scott Mann, and Eloise (a council officer), who is a part of Cornwall Council and is responsible for delivering our consultation materials. I think we need to be a bit more robust; we need to be emailing these five people every week if we have to.”

Peter Guesford, a member of the group who also has his own online petition on Change.org named ‘Reduce the Pollution in Camelford’, said: “We need to put pressure on Scott Mann, because he’s the only person who can really make things happen. MPs are there to do their job; they’re not there to sit in their ivory tower. We need to knock on his door and say ‘we need money to do this’.”

The group went on to discuss the Cornwall Council drop-in event at Camelford Hall which took place yesterday (Wednesday). One member of the group had recently learned that this consultation event was open to anyone from across the county to attend, not just Camelford residents.

She said: “We’re quite lucky that we’ve had one. The first one was in Truro, which has already passed now, but now they’ve got one coming to us, and it’s aimed at everyone, not just people from Camelford. So people can come from Truro, Redruth, all over the place.”

The number of notice boards around the town was also a hot topic for discussion, with one member saying that more posters and leaflets about the consultation needed to be promoted on notice boards in Camelford.

Mr Guesford said: “People come and go, they don’t go into the town or the car park and I think we’re missing out. People don’t know anything about this.”

Town councillor Alan Burgis was also in attendance. In response to this, he told the meeting: “When the town team was formed, they were given £10,000 and we set up the team, which included town councillors. The money was supposed to be used to promote the town centre.

“This included the investment in notice boards and banners, which were paid for by the town team. There were many arguments about where the notice boards should be and where they should be sited.”

Mr Guesford said: “I know this whole consultation has been driven by county council, but why is it nothing to do with the town council? This is possibly one of the biggest things to happen to this town!”

Another member agreed, adding: “Anything to do with the town should be to do with the town council.”

One member of the group spoke about her concerns for the health of residents, as a result of the air quality in Camelford. She said: “One thing I would like to see get pushed forward is getting someone qualified to see how this is affecting my health. Short-term effects are considered fine; however, long-term effects are not fine.

“There is no reason why we can’t get a professional opinion to help our case. We need to speak to our doctors and consultants.”

Cllr Hewlett continued: “When you see the youngsters walking up the road to school every day, it really is appalling to know that they are being affected by the air and pollution.”

Another member added: “This is why I’m doing this — for the children, nobody else.”

The group then discussed their next plan of action. With the Cornwall Council drop-in event having taken place yesterday, the group is now hoping to make contact with Sir James Smith’s Community School to make people more aware.

It is hoped posters will be put up around the town, with downloads on the Camelford community website. The GP surgery, garage, local chip shop, leisure centre, school, pubs and shops could be home to posters in the near future.