The lack of action by RMBC and National Highways to address this has already resulted in long term exposure to levels that are known to have adverse health impacts for people living close to busy roads, particularly along Cumwell Lane and Bawtry Rd A631, affecting Hellaby, Bramley, Thurcroft and Maltby and adjoining local areas, such as Wickersley, Ravenfield and Braithwell. The sheer volume of queuing traffic at peak times on Bawtry Rd and Cumwell Lane leads to road safety issues accessing and leaving the Hellaby residential estate.
Action Needed:
• Urgent action to address an inadequate and underfunded road
infrastructure which has created traffic congestion, consequent air
quality and noise issues and road safety issues. These measures are
long overdue. RMBC should work with National Highways to designate
the M18 at Hellaby/Bramley as a Noise Important Area (NIA). And
apply for some of the ring-fenced government designated funds
specifically for noise reduction measures and highways improvements
to protect the health and safety of the communities living
alongside this congested part of the strategic road network.
• RMBC should begin urgent Public Consultation with the
affected communities and National Highways, leading to concrete
Action Plans to future proof the highways serving the M18 to help
reduce the existing congestion and the associated poor air quality
and traffic noise. This should take place before new approved
industrial and housing sites, currently in the pipeline, have been
developed. The proposed highway “improvement” to create
a right turn on Bawtry Rd East controlled by traffic lights will
only add to congestion and queuing on the approach from Maltby. The
new developments will bring more and more local traffic onto our
roads, in addition to the predicted increases over the next 20
years on the strategic road network. Bawtry Road, M18/M1/A1.
• RMBC should install better air quality monitoring at
Hellaby, preferably with continuous analysers as along the M1
corridor, including PM2.5 monitoring to establish the true level at
Hellaby rather than using data collected elsewhere where air
quality has improved due to measures taken there. The hit and miss
recording of Nitrogen Dioxide levels data at Hellaby until
recently, and an overreliance on substitute data from other areas
around the M1 are not a reliable indicator of the situation at
Hellaby for residents living here. Fine Particulates, the most
damaging, are not monitored at all. Requests for PM2.5 monitoring
have been turned down on the grounds of cost. The Hellaby community
is being asked to provide for the employment needs of the
surrounding areas, Bramley, Wickersley and Ravenfield Common.
Hellaby has had to put up with the adverse impacts of the existing
industrial estate, the over concentration of industrial units
requiring large fleets of HGVs, multiple local freight depots and
the removal of our greenbelt to develop another industrial site
directly opposite people’s homes.
• Action is required now to give the Hellaby community and
anyone living close to the M18 or close to Bawtry Rd the same
protection as other areas of the Borough.
This petition ran from 07/06/2022 to 31/08/2022 and has now finished.
178 people signed this petition.