Llandeilo Bypass

CARMARTHENSHIRE Councillors are calling for a Llandeilo bypass to be built urgently to tackle air pollution in the town.

Yesterday’s meeting of the environmental and public protection scrutiny committee discussed air quality management in Llandeilo where the town’s main Rhosmaen Street has high levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air.

The Environment Act 1995 places a duty on local authorities to assess and manage air quality in its area. This is achieved through the Local Air Quality Management work. For Carmarthenshire, the main pollutant of concern is nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Llandeilo has experienced increasing levels of NO2 over the last few years, to the extent that the air quality objective for NO2 has been breached, resulting in Welsh Government requiring the Council to carry out a Detailed Assessment to ascertain the extent and level of exceedance of the Air Quality Objective.

The Detailed Assessment commenced in Llandeilo at the start of 2010 and was undertaken using ‘diffusion tubes’. The Assessment report concluded that it was necessary to designate an Air Quality Management Area, (AQMA) in Llandeilo.

A steering group was set up whose members include the Local Member for Llandeilo (Chair), the South Wales Trunk Roads Agency (SWTRA), the Road Haulage Association, Llandeilo Town Council, Dyffryn Cennen Community Council, Public Health Wales, Welsh Government, Llandeilo Chamber of Trade and officers of Carmarthenshire County Council. The steering group has now developed into a forum led by Councillor Colin Evans, Executive Board Member for Street Scene, with the objective of bringing forward the date for the construction of the bypass.

A technical group was set up consisting of Officers of Carmarthenshire County Council’s Public Protection Division, Transport and Engineering, Technical Services, Education, Regeneration, Development Control, and Legal Services, together with colleagues from Public Health Wales and the Farmers Union of Wales. The main aim of the group was to formulate the action plan to improve air quality in Llandeilo.

NO2 levels in the Llandeilo area have continued to be monitored and levels continue to be high in some areas.

The council’s head of public protection Philip Davies said: “As you move towards the narrow part of Rhosmaen Street you get increases in NO2 taking it above the European intervention level.

“Rhosmaen Street has been closed to traffic for the first three months of 2013. This has given public protection staff a unique opportunity to monitor the impact that diversion routes have on other areas of the town.

“The first two months of the road closure demonstrate that increased levels of NO2 have been measured on the diversion routes due to increased traffic flows.

“The only long-term viable option for bringing about a permanent and definite improvement to air quality in Llandeilo is the provision of a bypass.”

Hugh Brunt of Public Health Wales said that the focus had been on the health implications of NO2 which could affect people with allergies. His organisation had looked at the impact upon permanent residents and people who came to the area for school, work, shopping and so on.

He said that rates for acute respiratory admission to hospital was lower than for Wales but slightly higher than for Carmarthenshire as a whole. Limiting long term illness was comparable with Carmarthenshire as a whole and slightly more than the Welsh average.

Dr Michael Thomas of Public Health Wales said: “We do not see a negative impact on the health of the population.”

The scrutiny committee endorsed the lobbying of the Welsh Government for an early commencement of the construction of the by-pass.