It seems that through traffic will be banned from The Groves area following a meeting next week.

A report recommends road closures on Lowther Street and Penleys Grove Street in the wake of complaints about safety and emission issues.

The report fails to provide any accident information either for the streets affected or the “alternative” routes (Lord Mayors Walk, Dodsworth Avenue etc.) which will see increases in traffic volumes.

 Nor are any “before” or target “after” air pollution figures provided

Without these it will be impossible to judge whether any change could be judged a success.

The area is already covered by a 20-mph speed limit (one of the oldest in York).

What can be said is that the “short cutting” traffic is intrusive, noisy and can cause vibrations particularly in streets with traffic calming road humps.  Residents living on the affected streets would certainly enjoy an improved quality of life.

The quid pro quo of course is that the road closures would also increase journey length and durations for many car trips from and to The Groves.

The traffic impact figures – assessed using the Councils sophisticated computer model – are expressed in very cautious terms. It is almost as if officials had discovered that the peak hour impact on congestion was potentially calamitous.

There is no origin and destination data provided. We don’t know how the changes will affect, for example, ambulance journey times to the nearby hospital. It is information that must be provided before an informed decision could be made.

It is also surprising – given the apparent concerns about pollution levels -that no consideration has been given to declaring the area a low emission zone. The new coalition Council has been very slow to reverse the Tory led campaign to have ResPark low emission vehicle discount charges abolished. The decision took effect at the beginning of the year.

The declaration of an ultra-low emission zone (basically allowing access only to electric vehicles) will of course have to wait until the Council solves the “on street” charging issue.

The plans involve the whole of The Groves area becoming a single ResPark zone. The zone will include the Monk Bar car park and the St Johns Campus.

NB. The same meeting will hear about plans to redesign the Monk Bar/Lord Mayors Walk junction. New traffic lights will be provided at the same time.