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Welcome to the Quieter-A1M.com website for Welwyn Hatfield - Junctions 1 - 7 |
Latest Campaign News
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Some
stretches of the A1M through Welwyn Hatfield have been
significantly quietened by the resurfacing work described below.
But we're still concerned for those residents who continue to
suffer.
Over the past year campaigners have
been meeting with Ministers, querying the validity of the noise
survey carried out by the government's Highways Agency and much
more.
In order to provide more flexible
updates to this campaign, please check in on
this thread on the Welwyn Hatfield Forum which contains all
the latest twists and turns.
Read further updates on the end of
this Welwyn Hatfield Forum thread:
http://www.shapps.com/forum/index.php/topic,3396.0.html
PRESS
RELEASE
Immediate Release: Thursday, 17th April 2008
Highways Agency admit to misleading maps
The Chief Executive of the Highways Agency has written to Welwyn
Hatfield's MP to apologies for "misleading maps" previously
provided with reference to proposed resurfacing work on the A1M
motorway through the Borough.
In a letter to the MP Archie
Robertson admitted that the previous information hadn't been
entirely accurate and pledged to provide up-to-date maps which
have now been received by the areas campaigning MP.
Grant Shapps said: "The principle
difference appears to be that whereas the area around Lemsford
Lane in Handside was previously shown as having already been
completely resurfaced, these new maps reveal that a crucial
northbound section hasn't been touched."
In fact the new resurfacing maps
show a 'structurally sound' section of motorway meaning that
some Handside residents who are worst affected by motorway noise
will continue to suffer.
Commenting on the letter and new
maps (which are available for download at
http://www.Quieter-A1M.com
) Grant Shapps said: "We've been arguing that this section of
the motorway was still far too noisy and now we know why.
Whereas the Government had previously claimed that resurfacing
had been completed on this stretch of the motorway, it now turns
out that it has in fact only been completed in one direction. No
wonder it is still quite so noisy."
The MP has arranged to discuss the
situation with a Government Transport Minister and has pledged
to take local Councillors with him to the meeting.
By contrast the new resurfacing maps
do hold out hope for long suffering residents of Hatfield, the
Ayots and Welwyn all of whom can expect a reduction in noise due
to resurfacing during the financial years of 2008/9 and 2009/10.
Both maps are available for download
on the home page of
http://www.Quieter-A1M.com
ENDS.
PRESS
RELEASE
Immediate Release: Monday, 26 March 2007
MP and Councillors refuse to keep quiet over noisy motorway
A group led by Welwyn Hatfield’s MP has said that they are
“extremely disappointed” by the way that the Government’s
Highways Agency has responded to a pledge to carry out a noise
survey into the outcome of resurfacing work between Junctions 1
and 7 of the A1(M) motorway.
Now Quieter A1(M) Campaigners say that nearly one year on from
the promised survey -- designed to measure the sound from the
motorway before and after the current resurfacing works -- they
have still to see a copy of the report which has apparently been
bogged down by officialdom and bureaucratic delay.
Officials now say that the survey is due to be published in May,
but the campaign group is not only disappointed that the
findings are taking too long, but that no additional work is
planned to measure the noise improvement following the latest
resurfacing work. Commenting on the situation Grant Shapps said
‘It’s an absolute shambles, we’ve already waited the best part
of a year and now we’re expected to wait another two months to
see a report which we now know is in itself flawed because of
serious concerns about the way in which it was carried out.”
The MP, along with Borough Councillors Dr Dennis Lewis, Tony
Skottowe and County Councillor Malcolm Cowan also said that they
were worried about the quality of the sound measurements taken
after reports suggested that the Motorway Agency neglected to
follow the correct methodology for taking the sound readings.
Having been promise a noise survey based on four survey points
the in reality only two locations were used, neither of which
were in the noisiest areas.
The Quieter A1M group now plans to wait until the noise report
is issued in May, but they’ve already indicated that they may be
forced to raise funds in order to conduct their own sound survey
to challenge the official results.
Grant explained: ‘With money being spent on resurfacing we’d
actually like to know whether it has worked from a scientific
noise reduction point of view. We are very concerned about the
slow progress on publishing this report and are further worried
by the methods use to gather the data. Unfortunately we might
have to take matters into our own hands by commissioning our own
independent noise survey because it seems that the Government
just doesn’t seem to take this kind of noise pollution
seriously.”
ENDS
More info:
Grant Shapps on 020 7219 8497
Broadcast ISDN on 01707 662814
Notes to editors:-
• The campaign website can be accessed at www.quieter-a1m.com
and new resurfacing maps are now available at that location for
download.
• The website displays the most recent plans for works between
Junctions 1 and 7.
• Additional quotes:
Handside ward Councillor Dr Dennis Lewis said:
"For years, the residents in the south west of WGC have been
complaining to me and the MP about the unacceptable noise levels
they have to endure. During the summer the traffic roar in my
garden is such that I have to have the radio turned up very loud
in order to be able to hear it. With the resurfacing that's
taken place we have been making progress under Grant Shapps'
leadership but the Highways Agency is letting us down badly, so
we're going to work together to renew our efforts to reduce the
A1(M) noise."
County Councillor Malcolm Cowan said:
"The road was designed and built in the mid-1960s, before the
problem of traffic noise was appreciated. Local people have thus
had to put up with the problem for longer than almost anywhere
else in the country, and we seem to be at the back of the queue
for effective measures to really cut down the noise that affects
so many of us."
Handside Councillor Tony Skottowe said:
"Blind reliance on modelling, without any attempt to verify the
model is correct by doing a few checks at critical points, is
not what I would expect from a government agency."
PRESS
RELEASE
Immediate Release: Monday, 05 June 2006
Major victory in fight for quieter A1(M) through Welwyn
Hatfield
Local campaigners, led by Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps, have
claimed a major breakthrough in their fight for a quieter A1(M)
through the area, as the Highways Agency has now agreed for
important stretches of the road to be resurfaced.
Resurfacing with “whisper quiet” tarmac is to be carried out on
large north and southbound parts of the A1(M) between North
Mymms and Welwyn.
The Highways Agency has granted the significant concessions,
following a recent meeting between MP Grant Shapps, and
Councillors Malcolm Cowan and Dennis Lewis.
Grant said “After six years of campaigning people power has
triumphed and I am delighted that thousands of people through
Welwyn Hatfield will benefit from reduced noise. This isn’t the
end of the story as there will still be a few gaps, but
residents can rest assured, I won’t stop battling until every
last inch of our noisy motorway is resurfaced.”
Cllr Malcolm Cowan said “This breakthrough has come about
through the increasingly vocal and active local residents”,
whilst Cllr Dennis Lewis said that the decision was “a watershed
in our efforts to fight the noise pollution generated by the
A1(M).”
Grant Shapps had previously set up the website –
www.Quieter-A1M.com to enable constituents to keep up with the
campaign and says that its online petition has received
thousands of signatures.
“I am keeping up the pressure on behalf of the local residents.
This meeting is a real breakthrough and we have come a long way
– but there is some way to go until we get the entire road
resurfaced. I won’t stop until this noise pollution is cut for
all Welwyn Hatfield residents.”
ENDS
For more info call Grant on 020 7219 8497.
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Celebrating a victory
Grant Shapps MP with
Cllr Lewis, Cllr Cowan, Sue Collins, Paul Williams (HA) and
Martin Heeley (Mouchelparkman).
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PRESS RELEASE
Immediate Release:
Tuesday, 06 September 2005
Campaigners welcome quieter A1(M) proposal
Welwyn Hatfield residents anxious to see the noisy A1(M) motorway
quietened down are optimistic that a resurfacing plan will bring
partial relief next year.
Recently elected MP, Grant Shapps, met with the Highways Agency during
the summer and has confirmed that a project to resurface between
Junctions 4 and 5 is now on the cards for the financial year 2006 /
2007.
Clearly delighted, Grant said: “This is by no means the end of the
matter, but it’s a start for the long-suffering residents of
Stanborough and Handside. Unfortunately the proposed resurfacing is
halfway from junction 4 to 5 and then halfway from 5 to 4, so there’s
only a very short section where the whisper quiet surface will meet in
both directions at the midpoint between these two junctions. However,
evidence from further up the motorway, at junction 6, does suggest
that even resurfacing on one carriageway knocks the noise levels back
quite significantly.”
The MP vowed to continue fighting until the entire A1(M) through
Welwyn Hatfield has been resurfaced in both directions adding: “I’ve
already been battling for a new quieter surface on the A1(M) for five
years, this limited amount of resurfacing is just a small victory, but
it’s in the right direction and every resident can rest assured that I
will continue to battle to reduce the noise pollution.”
More information (including a map of the proposed resurfacing) visit
Grant’s Quieter A1(M) campaign at
www.Quieter-A1M.com
The Highways Agency has said that the project will be subject to
funding approval.
ENDS
More info:
Grant Shapps on 07968 070097
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Download PDF map of proposed resurfacing
between junctions 4 and 5
here.
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Press Release
Wednesday, 08 September 2004
Release Immediate
Shapps Digs
At Highways Agency With Pneumatic Drill
Parliamentary Spokesman, Grant Shapps, has dramatically drilled home
community concern about the high level of noise from the A1(M)
Motorway, by hiring a pneumatic drill and digging outside of the
Highways Agency’s own offices in Welwyn Hatfield.
Explaining his move, Grant said: “It’s hard to escape the conclusion
that the Government’s Highways Agency has been in the slow lane when
it comes to getting the new ‘whisper quiet’ surface laid along the
A1(M) through Welwyn Hatfield.
“After a great deal of lobbying I managed to get the Transport Agency
to undertake fresh noise calculations earlier this year and they
proved that noise levels are between 74 and 80 decibels in places.
Shockingly, this is roughly equivalent to a pneumatic drill being
permanently used just across the road from your house. Yet despite
these unbearable noise levels, the agency still refuses to lay the new
quieter asphalt motorway surface. Frustrated with meetings that were
getting us nowhere, I simply thought that it was about time that the
Highways Agency got to hear of the problem first hand.”
Grant Shapps hired a medium compressor pneumatic drill, stationed it
outside the offices of Mouchel, the sub-contractor for the Highways
Agency in Welwyn Hatfield, and invited the press along.
The Highways Agency was left in no doubt as to the strength of local
feeling about A1(M) noise and Grant Shapps has vowed to continue the
campaign until action is taken.
Residents are encouraged to sign the petition at:
http://www.Quieter-A1M.com
Ends.
More info: Grant on 07968 070097
Press Release
Saturday, 17 July 2004
Release Immediate
Shapps: Highways Agency Response To A1M Noise Problem Is
“Disappointing”
Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman, Grant Shapps, has slammed the
Highways Agency after it failed to provide a clear programme of
improvement, despite the fact that fresh noise data has proved that
the A1M motorway through Welwyn Hatfield has become much louder in
recent years.
Grant explained: “I’ve now collected nearly a thousand signatures from
locals concerned about the level of noise from the A1M and my pressure
led to the Highways Agency carrying out new Welwyn Hatfield noise
calculations. The results show that in Lemsford Village (for example)
the rumble from motorway traffic officially reaches 79 decibels at
first floor level, that’s roughly equivalent to standing only 50 feet
from a pneumatic drill all the time.”
Unfortunately, despite these official high readings and other
potential ones throughout Welwyn Hatfield, Mr Shapps reports that the
upshot of his recent meeting with the Agency, an offshoot of the Dept.
of Transport, was extremely disappointing saying: “The Highways Agency
have fudged together a list of possible improvements which may or may
not take place over the next few years. It’s so patchwork and
completely provisional, that it isn’t even worth detailing the
conversation. If the Agency thinks the people of Welwyn Hatfield are
going to be fobbed off with some vague suggestions of improvements in
several years time, then they are entirely wrong.”
Now Grant Shapps has vowed to complete the A1M Petition by doubling it
in size to 2,000 names, saying: “Once I’m certain that everyone who
wants to sign this noise petition has done so, I’ll arrange to present
it to the Highways Agency in a blaze of publicity designed to further
embarrass the authorities. It just isn’t acceptable to believe that
people should sit in their own homes and suffer from this level of
ongoing noise pollution when so called ‘whisper quiet’ asphalt would
halve the sound level.”
Anyone who has yet to add their name to the A1M petition should go to
http://www.Quieter-A1M.com –
the website also provides a downloadable PDF version of the petition
form, designed to be taking around to friends and neighbours who are
also concerned about the A1M noise situation.
Ends.
More info: Grant on 07968 070097
Press Release
Monday, 24 May 2004
Release Immediate
Welwyn Hatfield A1(M) Noise:
Highways Agency to meet with Shapps
As a direct result of months of lobbying carried out by Conservative
Parliamentary Spokesman, Grant Shapps, and Cllr Lance Stanbury, the
Highways Agency agreed to undertake fresh noise calculations earlier
this year and report back by the end of March.
Yet despite the study having actually taken place, the results and
recommendations have yet to be published by the Agency.
Now Parliamentary Spokesman Grant Shapps has requested a meeting to
investigate the delays and to keep the pressure up on the government
department on behalf of frustrated residents in Welwyn Hatfield.
Grant Shapps said: "The Highways Agency has agreed to meet me on 16th
June 04 and I have made it clear that people expect the results of the
noise study to be available at that time. There seems little point in
commissioning a study if the results are then sat on for months.
Earlier this year I got hold of my own sound meter and carried out a
set of noise readings, but people in Welwyn Hatfield want to hear the
official results and proper recommendations to reduce noise, direct
from the Agency."
Grant Shapps also promised to press the Highways Agency for its
overall plan as regards resurfacing the Welwyn Hatfield stretch of the
A1(M) with a whisper quiet surface, saying: "I am in possession of a
letter from the Highways Agency dated 5th December 2003 where they
clearly discuss plans to resurface Southbound through Junctions 5 to
4. Now I understand that no budget has been found and the program has
been shelved. I simply won’t rest on this noise pollution issue until
every inch of tarmac along the A1(M) throughout the whole of Welwyn
Hatfield has been redone with a whisper quiet surface."
Ends.
More info: Grant on 07968 070097
Press Release
Thursday, 19 February 2004
Release Immediate
Highways Agency bows to pressure to carry out new A1M noise study
Following months of intense pressure by Conservative Parliamentary
Spokesman Grant Shapps and Handside Councillor Lance Stanbury, the
Highways Agency has agreed to undertake a fresh study into current
noise levels from the A1M motorway through Welwyn Hatfield.
The new noise survey, which is expected to be completed by the end of
March, was the outcome of a meeting attended by both the Highways
Agency and their contractor Mouchel and hosted by Grant and Lance in
Lemsford Lane, Welwyn Garden City yesterday.
Three sites, initially in Handside, have been selected by the agency
and these will be used to make fresh noise calculations using an
established formula. The Highways Agency will then draw up
recommendations which could include the long called for resurfacing
with whisper quiet asphalt and other noise reduction measures.
However, it is being stressed that any eventual work will be dependent
on government budgets.
Commented on the outcome of the meeting, Grant Shapps said: “This is
an important breakthrough and we’re delighted that the Highways Agency
is finally taking the concerns of residents in Welwyn Hatfield
seriously. Over the past few months I’ve been actively collecting
signatures on my www.quieter-a1m.com website and the sheer speed at
which this campaign has gained momentum demonstrates that there is
real concern out there over the level of noise generated by the A1M.”
A delighted Cllr Stanbury commented: “Handside is particularly badly
hit by traffic noise from the motorway and standing in Lemsford Lane
having to shout during discussions brought home the problem to the
Highways Agency. We don’t want to get hopes up because a solution will
depend on government budgets, but it’s good to know that they have
finally agreed to get the facts by carrying out these fresh
calculations.”
Ends: More info: Grant on 07968 070097
Everyone
knows that the A1(M) is a very noisy motorway, but in order to
quantify the sound levels, Grant Shapps has gone out with three local
Councillors with a sound meter to measure the decibels at key
locations.
Press Release
Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Release Immediate
A1(M) Noise Survey Reveals ‘Shock Results’
Local Conservatives have carried out a scientific study of noise
levels from the A1(M) Motorway and have found the results to be so
shocking that they’ve urgently forwarded their report to the Highways
Agency requesting “immediate action”.
Using a Sound Level Meter, Grant Shapps and his team have measured the
decibels created by the A1(M) motorway in various locations throughout
the constituency and have found levels to be so seriously high that in
several cases they breach the 65 decibel maximum adopted by most
European countries as an acceptable motorway noise limit.
Grant explained: “In one street in Welwyn we measured a consistent 74
– 80 decibels right outside front doors, whilst in another road in
Handside we found sound levels peaked at 100 dB’s. That immediately
alarmed us because it’s known that eight hours exposed to 90 dB or
above can cause serious damage to your ears.
“Frankly the recordings are so high that we’ve rushed our results to
the Government’s Highways Agency, calling on them to carrying out
urgent noise inspections of their own.”
The Conservatives originally started collecting signatures in Handside
calling for resurfacing of the A1(M) with a modern “whisper quiet”
road surface, but they quickly expanded their campaign throughout the
constituency when it became apparent that the problem spread the
entire length of the A1(M) through Welwyn Hatfield.
Notes to editor:
Sound level recordings were taken in three Welwyn Hatfield locations
on the morning of Wed 12th Nov 03 (after rush hour) with sound
measuring equipment stationed at Lemsford Lane in Handside, Crossway
in Sherrards and Gwynfa Close in Welwyn. The results were as follows:
Lemsford Lane, Handside
Background noise 80 – 90 dB’s
Peak noise at 100 dB’s
Crossway, Sherrards
Background noise 70 dB’s
Peak noise at 72 dB’s
Gwynfa Close, Welwyn
Background noise 74 dB’s
Peak noise at 80 dB’s
All of these readings are above internationally agreed standards and
in some cases they could be damaging to residents hearing.
Ends.
More info: Grant on 07968 070097
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Grant Shapps
Quieter-A1M
Campaign Organiser
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Download the
unique A1(M) Ringtone For Your Mobile Phone!
Now when your mobile phone rings you'll enjoy the sound
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Promoted by Benedict McAleenan on behalf of Grant Shapps and printed by the
Conservative Party of Maynard House, The Common, Hatfield, AL10 0NF
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