Following the consultation period in Camelford in 2016, Cornwall Council has since declared the town an air quality management area (AQMA) and has drawn up a strategic document, highlighting potential solutions to improving Camelford’s traffic issues and air quality.
In 2014, Camelford measured 62.1 ug/m3 in NO2 levels. When an area reaches 60 ug/m3, it is considered a ‘serious risk’.
The plan includes potential proposals for a compulsory purchase or relocation scheme, which would involve moving residents away from the worst affected areas of Camelford to a new neighbourhood and would cost Cornwall Council several million pounds to complete.
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This was highlighted in one of the main stories during BBC Spotlight’s lunch and evening news programme on Tuesday, January 31, where a reporter visited Camelford and interviewed various residents.
However, the programme failed to state that the proposal is one of many within the report, and that Cornwall Council has not made a decision on this compulsory purchase proposal.
Claire Hewlett, a town councillor for Camelford Town Council and the leading member of the local action group, Camelford Clean Air Group, was interviewed on BBC Spotlight. She has opposed the proposal, and is hoping that a bypass will be built instead.
She told the Post: “This appears to be the wrong way round to me. Towns should be for people — remove the vehicles and keep the people. People in, pollution out, is my view.
“Everyone’s been working so hard to make Camelford a vibrant town again, and it’s starting to work. We can’t now stand by and let the very fabric of the town be threatened.”
Town mayor and Cornwall Councillor for Camelford, Rob Rotchell, got in touch with the Post to put minds at rest.
He said: “As everyone may know by now, Camelford was recently declared an air quality management area by Cornwall Council. There has to be a plan to resolve the issues in the area, and a strategic paper has been produced by Cornwall Council. This includes Cornwall and its entirety, and has a range of options on how to improve air quality in various areas in the county.”
Cllr Rotchell explained that the report on the news programme had suggested that the decision had been made to introduce the compulsory purchase scheme, and that that was not the case.
He continued: “This is not what the document states. It suggests a place, not Camelford in particular. I know that this proposal wouldn’t solve the problem — it would be cheaper to build two bypasses, to be quite frank.
“This scheme may be appropriate somewhere such as a small hamlet, but it was never going to be for Camelford. It would be inappropriate.”
Cllr Rotchell explained that he was concerned that people are being told that the scheme is going to happen, causing worry and anger amongst the community.
He said: “I don’t see the merit in it. We already have a root cause, which is HGV vehicles. What we know we need to do is to re-route the HGVs around the town, and this is a proposal I’ve been working on for a few years now.
“We need to consider and ask the people of the town what they think, and rather than being distracted by this proposal, we need to retain our focus, which is to re-route HGVs around the town.
“Cornwall Council haven’t been making a decision about this, and it seems that it is has been suggested that they have, and it’s not like that at all.”
Cornwall Council told the Post that the communities policy advisory committee has recommended to cabinet that the Clean Air for Cornwall Strategy be approved. It has also made a recommendation to the miscellaneous licensing committee that further work be undertaken with regard to the promotion of electric taxis, taking into consideration the numerical limits and pricing against diesel vehicles.
A spokesperson for Cornwall Council told the Post: “No decision has been taken on the compulsory purchase and relocation option, outlined in the strategy, and no specific locations have been chosen for compulsory purchase. All options are being kept open, but this course of action would be a last resort.
“We are in the early stages of identifying actions to improve air quality in Camelford, and this will consider a wide range of measures. We will be preparing a draft action plan over the next 12 to 18 months and will be consulting the public and other stakeholders on the draft plan.”
They added that the Clean Air for Cornwall Strategy will be considered by cabinet at a future meeting.
Local residents also got in touch with the Post to express their views on the suggested proposal.
Peter Guesford, who lives near the bridge in Camelford and is an active member of the Camelford Clean Air Group, thought the proposal was to ‘scare’ residents into thinking they may have to leave their homes. He said: “It’s just scare mongering; they’ll end up putting up traffic lights, and that’ll just be a plaster on the wound.”
Mr Guesford added that this ‘preposterous’ proposal has resulted in him contacting the Heritage Lottery Fund, to find out if they could help fund a bypass for Camelford. However, he holds out little hope for this.
He added: “If this was going to happen — and it would include the listed buildings in Camelford — the whole town would be lost! It’s utter rubbish, in my opinion, and it’s just scaremongering.”
Another resident, Debbie Balaam, said: “They have no concept of reality. This is just so unrealistic — please can the council get a reality check?
“The cost to relocate all the residents would be astronomical, and what about the businesses in the area?”
Sandra Holsey, another member of the Clean Air Group, said: “In my opinion, Cornwall Council has now proved how ludicrous their ideas in tackling the air quality management plans are. The high levels of pollutants have been shown by the monitoring taken place for years in Camelford.”
Mrs Holsey added that she and her family had moved to the area in 1998, and that the levels then were as high as Bristol centre. She said that many plans, including further housing developments, potentially bringing in more vehicles and HGVs into the town, have been considered since then.
She continued: “All these plans would be viable with a bypass, and perhaps then the town of Camelford could be allowed to flourish, which I know is the aim and wish of many residents.
“I dread the holiday season, when we will again be faced with traffic crawling or idling through the town, and also numerous irate drivers when the traffic becomes blocked and no one will give way.
“Cornwall Council, you have neglected this town for long enough, knowing that the levels of nitrogen dioxide were above those classed as being safe for our community, and we cannot wait for another summer of hell.”
Gonzo Hunter added: “It all went wrong when the traffic calming measures were put in place, and then the bypass didn’t get built — simple!
“Either take the calming measures away, or bypass the whole town.”
The Camelford Clean Air Group has been campaigning for better air quality and traffic measures for Camelford since their establishment in the late summer of 2016.
With North Cornwall Conservative MP, Scott Mann, on their side, who recently brought Camelford’s case up in Parliament, the main opinion among the group, and the residents, is that Camelford needs a bypass.
For more information about air quality in Camelford, visit www.cornwall.gov.uk/airquality
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