District Council asks County Council to speed up on Air Pollution
Ashbourne Lib Dem member Peter Dobbs made a plea to councillors at a Derbyshire Dales District Council Community and Environment committee meeting on 17th November to do all that they can to speed up the formation of an Action Plan to tackle air pollution in Ashbourne.
The request clearly struck a chord with those present, and the committee agreed unanimously to write to key members of Derbyshire County Council requesting that they give the action plan greater priority.
It appears that although it has been 7 months since an Air Quality Management Area was declared in Ashbourne, none of the suggestions made by the steering group have been able to be published due to issues at County Hall. Peter Dobbs reminded councillors that it was the statutory responsibility of the District Council to publish the Action Plan and of the Community and Environment Committee to see that its publication was carried out promptly and effectively.
He referred to a County Council report from 2018 that in Derbyshire mortality and morbidity attributed to air quality was calculated as equivalent to 402 deaths and over 4000 life years.
Delay costs lives.