Renewed call for bypass

Pollution caused by increasing traffic using the main A483 road through Newtown is causing "serious health concerns", leading to renewed calls for a bypass.

Data given by Paul Bufton, Powys County Council's air quality officer, to councillors yesterday led to another call for the Welsh Assembly to push the town's long-awaited bypass up the national roads programme.

He said air quality in New Road in Newtown had been monitored since 1997 and the levels of nitrogen dioxide in that area had been steadily increasing, causing serious health concerns.

"In 2005 this increasing trend led to a breach of the National Air Quality Objective for NO2," said Mr Bufton.

He told councillors the two big proposed supermarket developments along that route in the town, for Lidl and Tesco, had the potential to make matters worse.

But he said consultants required to carry out a computer generated model, predicting the NO2 concentrations for the year 2010, including the impact of two new large supermarkets, indicated that despite greater levels of traffic on the road, the level of the pollutant would reduce to below the national objective.

Mr Bufton said the reasons given for that prediction was "assumed effect of Government policy" and lowering background levels of nitrogen dioxide, for example through improvements in new cars.

Councillor Bob Davey claimed that was "a way of doing nothing". "Haven't they seen the sort of cars that are driven in Newtown? There are an awful lot of old vehicles that will still be there by 2010," he said.

Mr Bufton agreed and added that he had objected to the two retail development because of the effect on air quality. Asked by Councillor Jim Lawson what problems nitrogen dioxide caused, Mr Bufton said: "It's a known respiratory irritant affecting people with respiratory disease."

It was recommended that Powys County Council set up an Air Quality Management Area in New Road that would involve setting up a steering group involving county and town council members and Welsh Assembly Government representation. "Ultimately a bypass is the way forward," he said.