SUSSEX LOCAL Storrington - Ashington - Cootham - Sullington - Thakeham - Washington wAngela Bames at Komedia My Mooazik Children’s CD & Book ROCKINGHORSE Helping sick children PLUS Health, Recipe, Prize Crosgy Local Walks, Local Gig16 Local issues SUSSEX LOCAL Please switch your engine off! Storrington’s pollution is harmful to our health - everyone can help by switching engines off when stationary. By Georgia Brown & Jack Walker i may be no sere that Storington has previously been exposed as having the Worst air qally and highest evel of pluton in the South East, wth dota Suegenting tet the aly ofa has previous pur meted ates even werse than Lone. The high levels of ae congestion through Stone ton High Street and sureuncng areas conte to the remarhabe levels of hermit emisions released ino the ai tom cor engines. Often at @ goo, peak time wate queves through our narow High Street contribute 2 woring level of harmful polit fant if the aon a aly bass. Amost a decade on itom the fst Ar Qulty Acton Pan implemented by Horsham Distt Counc (HOC) to bing ngterm benefits to people inthe wilage seems that i rom tne for the eommunty to acknowedge the po tuton er to hep te conc tackle the sve The gah below shows a comparson in eel of ni trogen onides (NOO as ntogen donde (NOZ) aos the last decade NOs released int the atmosphere ven ul, sch 8 pel oe bed. High fv of Such emtions can iflame tbe aways nour lunes causing serous heath problems. In Bain ane known NO2 emissions have been estimated t0 kill ‘Starmgion Roast ovorzor0-owor2019 von 3 ovr ororss 23,500 people every year, according to aerosol sci tence professor lan Colbeck of the University of Essex ‘The concentration of air pollutant is measured in micrograms per cubic meter of air (ygm-3). The Euro: ‘pean Commission environmental department con- sider exposure to any level of air pollutant over 200 lugm-3 for over an hour to be harmful to our health. Levels of air pollutant over 10 years recorded in Stor ‘ington Roadside are presented in the below graph, depicting a scary realty regarding the pollutants in the atmosphere in Storrington. \What can pollution do to our health? ‘Air pollution can cause serious health problems. ‘around 1 in 10 cases of lung cancer in the UK are caused by air pollution and, according to the World Health Organisation, high levels of pollutants in Euro- “pean cites can lower fe ‘expectancy by anywhere between 2 to 24 months. ‘Air pollution can have especially negative ef fects on vulnerable popu: Recommended ESetoelorair| (ation groups. tke the pollutant tlderly and children. The British Lung Foundation says that young children ‘can develop asthma from | breathing in polluted air and can even be at 2 higher risk of getting lung caneer when they get older. Older citizens are already predisposed to respiratory conditions and breathing in excessive NO2 may cause further health problems for them, 2018's Air Quality Man- ‘agement Annual Status Report from Horsham District Council revealed that Storrington’s alr quality stil reeds to be improved. Since 2016, a sight decrease in NOx levels was observed, but the levels still ex ‘ceeded objectives in Manleys Hill and School Hil orort8 West Street and High Street were both within 10% ofthrough the door ‘A the objective. The highest hourly average concentra tion levels of NO2 (above 40ug/m3) were recorded in peak traffic times on Monday and Tuesday mornings ‘when people may be driving to work or school. All the traffic that congests Storrington’s roads releases harmful pollutants throughout our town. ‘What can be done? ‘With all these facts considered, despite HOC's efforts, it could be sald that we need to do something to com- bat air pollution as a community. HOC have implemented Action Plans over the years to tackle the ors, including: + A Traffic Regulation Order to prohibit waiting, load. ing and unloading on North Street (at the Junction with the High Street) is being implemented immi- ‘rently and the Parish Council wll be urging HDC to enforce these restrictions vigorously. ‘+A Trafic Regulation Order to prohibit lorry move- ‘ments into and out of School Hill at the junction With Manleys Hillis also being implemented with, ‘advisory signs already in place. ‘There is stil the possibilty of two bypasses on the 427 from Worthing and Arundel to give cars and lorries an alternative route in order to reduce con «gestion through Storrington and surrounding towns. Highways England are planning on starting the con- struction of the Arundel bypass by 2022 which wil follow the preferred route to be announced in 2020. They have also looked into improvements between Worthing and Lancing. + Changes to the crossings on the High Street have been considered in order to improve traffic flow. ‘The authorltes can only do so much to tackle the high levels of pollution in Storrington and surrounding ‘areas, What i important, is that everyone recognises the threat high levels of emissions have to our health, ‘and acts accordingly to Improve the local ar quality {ts notjustthe through traffic When walking through Storrington, It is not uncom- mon to see people leaving their vehicles running ‘whilst stationary. You can see this when observing people stopping at cash points, shopping at Waitrose ‘and even outside Storrington Primary School, when ‘the jeopardy caused from toxic fumes. Into young lungs is tits highest. ‘Switch off and save ‘Turning off your car's engine while stationary will not only help the environment, but will also save money ‘and petrol. According to research conducted by Vehi cle Lab, on average, an idling car wastes 1/7 to 4/5 of a galion (0.6 ~ 0.9 ites) of petrol every hour. With petrol being about £1.28 per lite, every hour of iling Could cost up to £2.45, Drivers tuming off and re Starting their car when stationary in traffic for more than 10 seconds actually uses less fuel than when their car is left running, In modem cars, starting the fengine uses nowhere near as much fuel as older cars that would need a gush of fuel to start the engine. Local issues ‘The best way to improve our air quality is to come ‘together and make changes to reduce our carbon footprint and save the environment. With pollution levels that have been higher than London's, itis es- sential that we take action and make a change for the better. To tackle this issue, Sussex Local will be pushing Councils and others to campaign for switching off ‘engines when stationary to help contribute to cleaner air in our local area, Everyone can help by: + Turning off engines when sitting in traffic. “+ Making sure engines are turned off when jour car is. parked, even when loading. + Sharing its at busy times such as the schoo! run or ‘Work commute to limit traffic. + Wherever possible, using public transport, cycling or just walking. Every individual action can make a dent - let's see what we can do together. Georgia Brown has started her second year Journal sm Masters course. Jack Walker i in his A level year after which he alms to pursue a career in journalism. Editor's Note We work and live in Storrington with our two young children, one of whom has mild asthma, so you could ‘say we live and breathe this issue dally. ‘The issue came to a head @ couple of months ago for us when someone told us they had seen a powerful ‘SUV with two exhausts belching out fumes into the faces of people walking up the slope into the Weltrose car park. There was no sign of the driver, but the passenger inside advised that the driver had ‘gone shopping in Waitrose! On another occasion re- cently | personally witnessed from our office window ‘ar idling for no less than 20 minutes whilst the driver stood outside It using his phone. Its also not ‘uncommon to see stationary cars with engines run- ning and drivers sitting in them near Storrington Pri- mary school. ‘As Georgia and Jack were with us in the Summer for 2 period, | asked them to research and write this arti Cle. | think they did a good job and hope you agree. All feedback would be welcome to info@sussexlocal.net