Traffic Monitoring November 2017 - 13th anniversary!

As a result of traffic monitoring cables having been installed across the carriageway in various locations along the A639 and A642, this month, the following email has been sent to the Ward councillors, copied to our MP, and the Highways representative from Leeds City Council:   

Councillors

With reference to the traffic monitoring (cables across the carriageway) taking place on the A639 it has been pointed out that yet again the siting of the monitoring equipment on Leeds Hill is not in the optimum location and if the monitoring is for speed measurement, then the results will not be truly representative of the traffic speeds reached along Leeds Hill, and will show lower maximum speeds.  To record the speeds that are being reached the monitoring equipment should be closer to the middle of this stretch of road, as has been proven in the past.

Traffic NOISE and health

From day one of the campaign the number one complaint from local residents has been the problem of night time noise, some from speeding traffic but primarily noise from HGV traffic, (some of which is also speeding).  Reference to government Planning and Transport policy guidelines, on keeping HGV traffic away from residential areas, particularly through the night is to be found elsewhere on this site.  All of this has been brought to the attention of councillors and MP alike, many times over and has been ignored.  The health issues associated with traffic noise and disturbed sleep are well researched and documented.  The following is just a small snippet of what can be found on the World Health Organisation website:

'NOISE'

There is a short series on TV at the moment, 'Windfarm Wars', about the impact windfarms can have upon individuals and local communities, and the losing battle that these people have with the windfarm developers, local authorities, and the planning system.

The 'jury is out' on the visual impact that windfarms have but of major concern to the windfarm battlers is the NOISE generated by the turbines and the rotor blades. The NOISE is apparently difficult to monitor, and not always perceptible, and in one dispute that went all the way to the High Court the case relied heavily upon the DISTURBANCE to the community that the NOISE would cause. The campaigners were unable to prove that the NOISE would be excessive, and lost the case, had it been proven then the probability is that the windfarm would not have been developed.

The correlation here is that on two separate occasions, on different properties along Leeds/Wakefield Road, perhaps an eigth of a mile apart, sound monitoring has been undertaken by the council, and on each occasion the results have shown "excessive" NOISE from traffic! On each occasion these results have had to be prised out of the council! Sound monitoring is undertaken to standards set down by the World Health Organisation, and their web site contains a mountain of information relative to NOISE and how injurious it can be to health and well-being, TRAFFIC NOISE is a major concern! NOISE has to be taken into account from a development perspective and there is a link on this page to the Planning guideline concerning NOISE and development.

What of the findings of the council? - This type of monitoring is often undertaken when a new housing development is proposed close by an existing busy road. The results from the monitoring would have meant that special consideration would have to have been given to the sound insulation of the houses, and sound defence walls would have to be built along the road to reduce the NOISE impact. If it couldn't be shown that NOISE impact could be sufficiently minimised, then development might be prevented.

Most of our properties were here long before the NOISE became "excessive".

The council must have amazingly thick carpets to be able to brush so much under them!