It is 40 years this month since the council agreed to make the Fair Green, Mitcham, a traffic free zone.

Why?

Part of the statement said there is a basic conflict of functions between the shopping centre and traffic junction.  These two functions are incompatible.

Essential character has been eroded due to its fragmentation of traffic routes.

Fair Green is not an attractive place to shop because of noise and intrusion by traffic.  AIM is to separate traffic movement to reduce accident risk and emissions from cars and buses. There are 76 pages supporting this plan.

But what about the environment at Fair Green in 2015?

All over the country and the world city and town centres are limiting or removing traffic mainly because of the diesel particles of nitrogen dioxide and one of the main problems is when vehicles stop and start (multiple surges of NOx effects on pedestrians and cyclists).  

Shame we do not have a council who really understands the environment and is willing to take another look at the information from prominent scientists who estimate air pollution kills 50,000  prematurely a year.

Lucy Hedden

Mitcham