Tackling the Environmental Crisis in Dartford
Air pollution in Dartford is the worst in Kent and well above both national average and international standards. It is the equivalent of smoking 144 cigarettes a year just by breathing.
Air pollution is largely the result of the combustion of fossil fuels like coal, oil, petrol or diesel that are also warming the planet’s atmosphere. Road traffic is the biggest contributing factor to urban air pollution in the U.K. Cleaner alternatives exist in the form of active travel & electric vehicles, which must be embraced sooner.
Dartford in my view is behind the times on this, recycling rates in the borough are appalling, our green spaces are shrinking, the Thames more polluted than ever and our population is predicted to increase by another 20% over the next decade.
Action plan:
Exploring alternatives to fossil fuels, tackling the traffic on our roads and encouraging carbon reducing industries into Dartford, not just warehousing, these are the biggest contributory factors.
The government drive to build more homes does make this situation worse, but even when building more homes there are things that can be done to make homes more energy efficient / offset the damage and to make sure developers keep their promises in relation to green spaces – which often get overlooked once the houses are up and the developers move on. The Council MUST follow up and make sure these things are followed up.
The long-term strategy in our area has a reliance on an uptake in the use of electric vehicles, which for me given the price of such vehicles and the availability of charging points in Dartford is unlikely to have the impact they are hoping for.
Potential actions:
1. Dartford needs to embrace the Urban Forest concept for the Town, Stone Lodge and Ebbsfleet Garden developments, not bits of brown land turned into green space, this is something world leaders discussed at the World Economic Forum. I appreciate the Councils Orchard and allotment strategies but they will have little impact long term.
2. As part of gridlock strategy, every local knows the parts of the A2 and M25, A206, A296, B255 which need slowing down and controlling, why slow down? well a lot of our polluting traffic gridlock is caused by accidents on the main roads. KCC / Kent highways need more speed cameras at these black spots. Reduce the accidents you reduce the gridlock.
3. Dartford (including Ebbsfleet) is going to grow by another 20% in the next decade, that’s a lot of energy consumption, but Dartford could easily be a green / renewable power generator (would create real jobs and reduce the carbon foot print). From Long Reach to Swanscombe Peninsula the focus should be wind, tide and solar, the development of the renewable energy industry is a key government strategy so shouldn’t meet resistance.
4. This is the second time in my life time that I have seen a golden opportunity for Dartford’s Economic growth blown, we are at the heart of England’s supply chain infrastructure which means Dartford should now be attracting the cream of Carbon reducing tech industries to our Town, not more distribution hubs like Amazon which will soon be staffed by robots and artificial intelligence. We need real jobs and careers whilst reducing the towns carbon footprint.
5. TFL are already converting their bus fleet to electric and hydrogen, Kent needs to follow, many of the school buses used are ancient and need taking off the road. Fast Track buses need to be converted to electric trolley buses as piloted in 2019.
6. We suffer in Dartford East from air pollution coming in from the chemical plants in Essex, its ridiculous that KCC can not work with Essex to monitor and stop these leakages.
7. Fast Track, cycling and e-scooters are a great way to get around our town. I’m a regular user of Route B from Greenhithe to Dartford, and have seen the benefit our fantastic bus lane network provides, I’d like to see more standard bus lanes converted to fast track and fast track opened up to all buses including school buses, bikes, motor bikes and e-scooters.
8. Getting Dartford to embrace the Intelligent City concept, funding is available to support the introduction of car charging points and adoption of zero emission vehicles for business. All delivery vehicles in the Town should be moving towards zero emissions and the Council should introduce the requirement to do so.
9. Schools runs, we are never going to get everyone to walk their kids to school, I accept that but we could look at the American model and the use of volunteers to help the smooth drop offs and encourage more car sharing. There are lots of useful advice of things we can all do; examples can be found on FAQ page here: https://addresspollution.org
10. Consider alternative uses for the Swanscombe peninsula, which protect the environment and wont harm the wildlife, such as turning it into green power plant, will help carbon offsetting.
These are a few of my ideas, but I need your help, to develop a real environmental strategy which delivers sustainable jobs and a cleaner environment please come out safely to vote for me on the 6th May 2021.