Locals fed up with Bexley Village air pollution and heavy traffic

Lorries weighing more than 7.5 tonnes are banned from crossing the tiny bridge over the River Cray on Bexley High Street.

But Fred D’Arcy says heavier vehicles than that routinely thunder across, choking the pretty area by the Old Mill with diesel fumes.

The 67-year-old, who lives in Venture Close, told News Shopper: "I have two tenants in North Cray Road and they can’t even open their windows up because the fumes are going in their windows.

"I feel sick that people can’t even leave their windows open.

"The big lorries just go through and they don’t care. "To me life is more important than traffic."

The heating engineer is also unhappy Bexley Council stopped monitoring air pollution levels in the south of the borough at the end of last year.

The grandfather-of-eight said: "They just say they can’t afford it anymore.

"The council do it in the north of the borough but I don’t suppose there’s much pollution around Erith Marshes.

"I can’t believe that after all that smog recently they have stopped monitoring pollution levels in the area."

Michael Denny is the manager at Village Wines in Mill Row and says air quality is "particularly bad" in the area.

He said: "A lot of lorries use the bridge as a cut-through to the A2. It’s known as a weak bridge and you do see some large vehicles going over it.

Heavy traffic routinely clogs the High Street bridge. 

"When we a delivery from an articulated delivery lorry we make sure they go into the council car park so they actually never have to go over the bridge."

A Bexley Council spokeswoman said: “The health and wellbeing of our residents is important to us.

“Bexley Village is a key point in the local road network and the layout of the streets is likely to limit the natural dispersal of pollution when the air is still.

“We monitor air quality using real-time monitoring stations at key strategic locations in the borough.

“Although we have recently discontinued the use of diffusion tubes for monitoring nitrogen dioxide, this information is recorded in other ways and our network of stations continues to monitor key elements of air quality.

“Bexley High Street bridge has a 7.5 tonne weight restriction, with only TfL-approved buses exempt from this.

“The weight limit is a matter for the police and we have been in contact with them recently to ask them to ensure it is enforced.

“We are part of the London Air Quality Network. Current monitoring data and historic data for our monitoring sites can be viewed at www.londonair.org.uk”

A Bexley police spokesman said the local Safer Neighbourhoods Team is aware of the issue and is liaising with the council.

Anyone with concerns about over-weight vehicles crossing the weak bridge in Bexley High Street can contact the St Mary's Safer Neighbourhoods Team on 0208 721 2816.