Up to 2,000 extra lorries per day.
- Can't Fathom It
- May 28, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 28
Did you know that 7 MILLION people worldwide die every year as an effect of air pollution?
Statistics from the World Health Organisation show that 9 out of 10 people breathe polluted air. Breathing polluted air causes serious and deadly diseases such as Cancer, Stroke, Asthma and Heart Disease (1). In Ireland, 1,100 deaths each year are thought to have been caused from breathing polluted air. (2) With the BT34 and BT35 postcodes of Newry respectively ranked as the highest and 8th highest postcodes in Northern Ireland for Cancer diagnosis (according to statistics from the NI Cancer Registry) (3), local people may already be suffering and dying from the consequences of dangerous levels of air pollution, much of which already comes from the huge amount of HGV traffic caused by Warrenpoint Port.
Traffic figures provided by the Department for Infrastructure suggest that building the Southern Relief Road will result in an 80% increase in traffic travelling into and out of Warrenpoint Port. In real terms, this equates to over 2,000 extra trips in and out of Warrenpoint Port every day, which can reasonably be expected to mostly be trips made by HGVs. HGVs are thought to account for up to 50% of Nitrogen Oxide pollution from road transport in EEA member countries. (4)
Given the increased risks that going forward with the building of the Southern Relief Road bring to the health of local people, it seems incomprehensible that there is so much support for the project from local politicians. We would love to hear from any elected representative, from any party or none, who would be interested in providing representation to the people who are against risking the health of every man, woman and child in the area to suit the demands of Warrenpoint Port, in addition to the other huge environmental and wellbeing concerns linked with the project.
Air pollution is not a threat that we can brush under the carpet for now, with it’s effects only to be felt long into the future. A fresh inquest is to be held into the death of a 9 year old girl from London, who suffered a fatal Asthma attack in 2013. Ella Kissi-Debrah lived near a busy road in London, with a report in 2018 stating that unlawful levels of pollution detected one mile from Ella’s home had likely contributed to her fatal Asthma attack. (5) We do not want to see children and their families in our area suffering in the same way that Ella and her family have suffered, for the sake of prioritising the economic prosperity of a few over the health of many.
With more information and evidence than ever before available that pollution and climate change is having a serious impact on our planet and our environment, it’s time to look past building more roads and growing the local economy on the back of environmentally damaging HGVs. Moving cargo by train rather than by lorry reduces Gas Emissions by 75%, with railways found to be 4 times more fuel efficient than HGVs. (6)
With the health of the people of Newry under threat by the plans to build the Southern Relief Road, we would like to see our elected representatives pushing for more environmentally friendly options for transporting goods to bring sustainable and green growth to the area. Building a new road to attract extra HGV traffic to the area seems irresponsible and dangerous as we face a Climate Crisis. If better options for cargo transportation are genuinely needed to bring extra economic growth to the area and to Northern Ireland as a whole, the politicians that we are trusting with our health and the health of our families should be searching for the safest and most environmentally friendly options out there – and that would likely be rail.
Perhaps some of the £500 million of public money wasted by the RHI Scandal could have instead been invested in a joined up, cohesive all-Ireland freight network, to build a greener and healthier future for our country.
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