TRAFFIC campaigners along the A435 are fearing the worst from a top secret survey carried out on anticipated HGV movements from the proposed Redditch Eastern Gateway.
The survey, by consultants working on the development, was produced for a summit of highway authorities, local councils and MPs last month.
However its findings have not been released and are only expected to become public at the end of August.
“The talk before was all about the traffic heading north to the M42 but I simply do not believe it,” said Nicky Edden of Studley Traffic Action Group.
“For certain some of it is going to go south and if not along the A435 then through Redditch.
“It needs to be made better from what it is now, not made any worse.”
A part of Studley is already failing to meet the national objective for nitrogen dioxide levels, a pollutant pumped out by traffic.
A report by Warwickshire county council’s Air Quality Task and Finish Group said: “It is estimated that the equivalent of approximately 29,000 deaths per year in the UK are associated with particulate matter air pollution.
“This translates to the equivalent of 269 deaths in Warwickshire each year, putting it on a par with deaths caused by obesity and alcohol.”
It further says that the easiest way to reduce pollution levels is to reduce the amount of traffic on local roads.
One Mappleborough Green resident said her asthma had got worse and she could no longer sleep at night due to the rumble of HGVs passing her bungalow.
“It’s like living next to a runway,” she said.
“With the opening of the Eastern Gateway we are going to get more noise, more congestion and more pollution. I already believe we’re living in a area of blight. Anyone coming to view my house would be turned away by the amount of traffic.”
