St Albans City and District Council is to urgently investigate the emissions benefits of asking car drivers to switch off their engines while waiting at the Peahen Junction lights on Holywell Hill, St Albans as part of plans to improve air quality in St Albans City Centre.

The move follows a meeting between officers from Herts Highways and the Environmental Health department of the District Council, local councillors and a representative of the Holywell Hill Action Group on 22 December.

The Council has already extended the area covered by the Air Quality Management Area Order for the Peahen crossroads, a traffic hotspot in the city. It has also drawn up an action plan setting out various short and long-term steps to help reduce air pollution in St Albans. This was approved at Cabinet on 8 December 2009.

Councillor Robert Donald, Leader of the Council, said: “As an immediate interim action, I have asked council officers following this meeting to urgently investigate the emissions benefits of asking drivers to switch off car engines while waiting at the Peahen Junction lights, as environmental technical advice on this action currently appears divided. If it can be shown to be self-evidently beneficial we have agreed with Hertfordshire Highways that they will provide signage requesting drivers to take this preventative action. I am not aware that this particular measure has been trialled anywhere else in the UK for this environmental reason to date.”

The meeting also considered the possible pedestrianisation of St Peter’s Street and Market Place. Before taking this any further, Herts Highways will be modelling traffic flows and various traffic management options will be used to develop a model to assess their impact on surrounding roads. This will be followed by a public consultation in the summer if it is decided to take forward this idea any further. Another possible measure that was discussed was a mini park and ride scheme around St Albans. Herts Highways will initially be conducting a feasibility study to assess whether this is at all viable. No decisions have yet been taken on either of these possible solutions.

Councillor Robert Donald, added: ”This plan sets out clearly what actions we can take to improve air quality in the vicinity of the Peahen junction. Reducing congestion and improving air quality in the city centre is a major challenge for the City and District.

“Through the City Vision project, we have been looking at the future planning and development of St Albans and ways to encourage more people to travel around it by bus, cycle or on foot.

“We are also working hard with our partners to address traffic congestion and CO2 emissions particularly in the city centre. Earlier, this year we set up a new transport partnership called Network St Albans which brings together the District Council, Hertfordshire County Council, the University of Hertfordshire and local bus and rail companies to consider how best to cut traffic related road congestion and air and noise pollution. It is already looking at creating a better bus network with integrated ticketing and new bus maps; providing more real time travel information, improved junction traffic flows and a better network of pedestrian and cycle routes; and investigating the feasibility of other vehicle congestion reduction measures.

Councillor Geoff Churchard, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability at St Albans City and District Council, said: “Air quality is a serious concern for people who live and work on Holywell Hill and around the Peahen and we will be working with them, through the action plan, to resolve this issue.”