Traffic trial designed to reduce pollution starts on Gillygate

A trial lasting 12 months that seeks to improve air quality on Gillygate has just started.

The council will trial changes to the traffic light sequencing to significantly reduce stationary traffic on the street with the worst air quality in York. 

Queueing motor vehicle traffic emits gases, such as nitrogen oxides, that negatively affect air quality and, in turn, negatively impact the health of residents and visitors. Narrow streets with buildings on either side create a canyon effect, where pollution from queuing vehicle traffic becomes trapped, leading to poor air quality. Reducing queuing traffic on Gillygate is expected to improve air quality on the street. 

The trial will last 12 months, to ensure that the air quality can be effectively compared with previous years, and it will be monitors and adapted if there are any major issues. This will include reviewing the impact on buses and emergency vehicles. Importantly, to seek to minimise any impacts on these groups, adjustments to the timings will be made during the trial if necessary. 

A spokesperson for the Gillygate Air Quality Action Group said: "We welcome and support the council's trial in Gillygate as it focuses attention on the environmental issues faced each day by residents, businesses, motorists and pedestrians. The outcomes of the trial should help to inform the search for more permanent solutions to these issues.

"We aim to ensure that all residents and businesses in the Gillygate area have the opportunity to input into the Council's thinking about what these solutions may look like." 

Tony May, the chair of York Civic Trust's Environment Committee, said: "We are pleased to have been able to support the Gillygate Area Air Quality Action Group, and the Council, in developing this trial in designing the proposed surveys." 

Councillor Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport, said: "Working alongside the Gillygate community and the York Civic Trust we are taking action to tackle pollution in the area. 

"I want to thank everyone who has made this trial possible. We all want to better understand the impacts of these changes and ultimately find a long-term solution that improves air quality." 

Councillor Jenny Kent, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency, said: "Air quality in Gillygate has been a challenge for a long time and despite recent reductions in air pollution it still breaches national standards. Residents are rightly concerned, and this trial is a step towards addressing the problem. We hope it will bring benefits to people's health, local businesses, and the environment. In time, this trial will also help us to look at other locations across York experiencing poor air quality or disruption as a result of queuing traffic." 

This latest trial is not the first in Gillygate as there was a two week trial in 2023 which was successful in reducing queuing traffic. There were, however, some concerns around longer traffic queues on Lord Mayor's Walk and, to a lesser extent, Clarence Street. 

This trial is designed to ensure traffic will access Gillygate and flow through it with minimal stopping.