Cornwall Council is to trial a traffic priority scheme for Gunnislake’s Sand Hill in a bid to improve air quality in the village.

The three-month trial starts on Monday, November 28 and will involve a temporary build-out being installed to narrow the road above Alma Terrace. 

The scheme aims to reduce the amount of stop-start traffic near the homes at Alma Terrace, which should cut the levels of traffic-related nitrogen dioxide.

During the trial, traffic travelling uphill out of Gunnislake will have priority. Vehicles travelling downhill into the village will have to give way to oncoming traffic. 

Parking will still be allowed on the road next to the houses at Alma Terrace, but there will be no-parking cones next to the garage/outbuilding at the southern end of Alma Terrace.

Gunnislake was declared an Air Quality Management Area in 2014 due to excessive levels of traffic related nitrogen dioxide. 

Early in 2016, Cornwall Council held a public consultation on a draft action plan to improve air quality in the village, which proposed a range of options including the traffic priority scheme.  There was broad agreement that the scheme could help, but local people were keen to ensure it wouldn’t cause traffic problems on Sand Hill or elsewhere.

Gunnislake is one of six Air Quality Management Areas in Cornwall where monitoring has found excessive levels of traffic related nitrogen dioxide.  The other five are Camborne-Pool-Redruth, Truro, St Austell, Bodmin and Tideford.