Highways Authority appears to ignore health costs of air pollution
In a report presented to the Derbyshire County Council Health and Well-being Board in October, it was acknowledged that there are over 1,000 'excess deaths' in Derbyshire that can be attributed to air pollution. Air pollutants come from a variety of sources but undoubtedly the major contributor in most locations is road transport.
Yet in the Highways capital budget that will be presented to DCC Cabinet on 17th November, there is only £100k allocated to schemes targeting air quality in 2023-4 for the whole of Derbyshire.
The message from health chiefs that preventative measures will be much less costly in terms of suffering, distress and remedial action does not appear to have registered with County Highways.
But then this is the authority that requires people to have been killed or seriously injured before they will consider placing a controlled crossing on a dangerous road.