Residents living on a busy main road into a South Hams town could lose the right to park outside their own house under new plans being considered by South Hams District Council to improve air quality.

Western Road in Ivybridge is a designated Air Quality Management Area which means that levels of nitrogen dioxide along the road exceed the objectives set out in the National Air Quality Strategy.

Once an AQMA has been declared, the local authority has 12 months to develop an Air Quality Action Plan setting out what it intends to do about it.

The Ivybridge AQMA is not new, in fact it was first designated in 2009. However in 2016, SHDC reviewed its AQAP for the whole of the South Hams and has recently released a new draft Clean Air Strategy for the area.

SHDC is seeking the views of town councils and residents as part of a consultation process that runs until June 20.

Its Senior Specialist in Environmental Health, James Kershaw attended this week’s Ivybridge Town Council meetings to explain some of the ideas put forward in the draft.

One of these is to remove parking from Western Road in order to improve traffic flow. Mr Kershaw explained that slow moving traffic increases levels of air pollution.

However, councillors pointed out that slower moving traffic also improves road safety and cars parked along the road act as a barrier between pedestrians and moving vehicles.

Some parts of Western Road are a particular danger to pedestrians as the pavement is very narrow and the plans would need to include some kind of provision for improving the pavements, Mr Kershaw told councillors. The bus stop at the end of Western Road is also believed to be contributing to air pollution problems and the idea of moving it to allow traffic to move more freely was proposed.

It is not the first time that the idea of removing parking from Western Road has been mooted. In fact, Cllr Croad from Devon County Council said he had presented the idea to residents on several occasions and had received “no support whatsoever” on each occasion.

Cllr Wilson from Ivybridge Town Council told Mr Kershaw: “We’ve had some very aggressive meetings in the past when the idea of taking the parking away has been suggested.”

Mr Kershaw said that residents would be fully consulted before any decision was taken. He acknowledged that the views of local residents have prevented the council from removing parking from Western Road in the past but said: “Now we are saying what could we do to make it acceptable?”

He pointed out that people have no legal right to park outside their own house and that DCC “could simply double-yellow line it”. He told the meeting that removing on-street parking “would reduce air quality problems on that road significantly.”

One local resident who lives on Western Road said: “It has run like this for years, it doesn’t cause a problem” to which Mr Kershaw responded: “That is the problem, it has run like this for years.”

Among the ideas discussed at the town council meeting that might help to “make it acceptable” is demolishing the old fire station and building a residents car park in its place. However, there are currently 16 car parking spaces along the road and this proposal would be likely create only four parking spaces, which would still leave a shortfall. Other areas of land are also being considered to provide possible parking for residents.

One councillor asked if SHDC had considered the impact on disabled residents to which Mr Kershaw replied that these were exactly the type of objections that the council was inviting by going out to public consultation. He stressed that the current proposals are draft only and that all opinions will be considered.

The town clerk, Lesley Hughes and Cllr Wilson asked about the impact that recent development is having on the town’s infrastructure, pointing out that it is unsustainable to allow more and more development without putting the infrastructure in place to cope with it. Mrs Hughes said the council was “very concerned” about congestion at the A38 roundabout and believed that “increasing delays” were inevitable.

Mr Kershaw explained that DCC has recently completed a traffic study, which is still in draft format, but which states that it does not believe there is any need for a link road in the town. He told the meeting “I don’t necessarily agree with this.”

He told councillors that developers are asked to carry out a pre-build assessment to predict the likely impact on air quality at the time of occupation. SHDC then considers whether or not their estimate is reasonable or whether to require more money to offset the impacts. Mrs Hughes pointed out that, with so much building taking place simultaneously, the impacts are likely to be greater than developers estimate. Mr Kershaw explained that developers are required to look at cumulative impacts.

In a report to the executive, dated February 1, 2018, SHDC states: “As a council we will only accept development that offsets its impact to an acceptable level and protects future residents from exposure to poor air quality.”

Mr Kershaw told the meeting: “In order to get developers to contribute more, we need an Air Quality Action Plan that has been accepted, costed and implemented. That’s why we are keen to hear the public’s views about our draft strategy.”

As well as tackling pollution problems, SHDC is hoping to encourage behaviour change by promoting green travel as an alternative to private cars. In its draft strategy, the council makes a commitment to increasing the number of electric charging points available within council car parks and other locations and to green travel planning.

It is continuing to work with landowners and others to determine the feasibility of an alternative access route for Eastern Ivybridge to the South of the A38, however the strategy states: “There is no intention to consider further the option of compulsory/voluntary purchase at this time.”

There are three Air Quality Management Areas in South Hams - Western Road in Ivybridge, Dean Prior and Totnes.

SHDC said: “There are a number of options for solutions in Ivybridge and we are seeking the public views on these, and we would encourage any other solutions that people may have.”