AS reported in last week’s Post, Camelford has now been declared an official air quality management area.

There has been months of work carried out both in the town and beyond to reach this status.

Recently, Eloise Travers, environmental protection officer with Cornwall Council, attended the Camelford Area Network Panel meeting to give an update on what work has so far taken place.

A total of 203 responses were gathered from the recent consultation — 90 of which were completed online.

Respondents were unanimous in their belief that it was long overdue and that the process was a positive step. The area in question was found to be sufficient — taking in the whole of the built up area of the town. A few felt this should be extended to include Valley Truckle.

A number of measures were suggested to help improve air quality. The most common of these was a bypass/ring road to take vehicles off the A39. Others suggested HGVs could be stopped from travelling through the town by implementing a weight limit on the bridge.

Other responses noted that action should be taken in the town centre around the traffic lights to improve the flow of traffic, with some even suggesting demolition of houses to improve the flow.

Other suggestions included improved signage in the priority area and a bicycle route linking with the Camel Trail. Parking on double yellow lines was also felt to be a problem.

Within the consultation replies were comments regarding the effect of the A30 diversion, which resulted in increased traffic travelling through the town; a possible congestion charge for Camelford; and a possible restriction on planning to reduce the number of vehicles in the town.

Ms Travers said: “There was a strong feeling from residents, they were promised a bypass and that wasn’t delivered.”

Now the town has been declared an air quality management area, DEFRA have been notified and an action planning process will begin. The legal time frame for this is 12 to 18 months, although it may not necessarily take this long.

Ms Travers said there would be further consultations with residents and businesses, and then they can begin to implement the action plan over the next few years.

“It’s still a long process and it’s not an easy process but I can assure you we are working as fast as we can.”

One man, attending the network meeting, suggested that now there is single file traffic through a part of the town, the road could be declassified as an A road and then restrictions could be more easily imposed.

Resident, Brian Lush said: “Can you think of any other town in this country with an A road going through it?”

Town mayor and county councillor for Camelford, Rob Rotchell, who was chairing the meeting, explained that although planning permission on the bypass lapsed four to five years ago, the footprint still exists, so they wouldn’t need to start from scratch.

Ms Travers was asked where the money would come from, and she said there were a few different options, such as a local transport plan ‘pot’ and DEFRA grants, along with other sources of funding.