Vegetable Growing and Vehicle Pollution!

[freefolk]

Good Morning, and I hope you are all having a productive growing season. Ok, so.........HELP!!! Long story short, our Housing Association are proposing to turn a goodly chuck of the communal play area/allotment beds at our property into designated car parking for 18 vehicles! They propose possibly re-siting the allotment beds but the proximity of vehicle parking to growing would be a few metres at best. We have obvious concerns, especially in winter months when engines are running to clear windscreens and our over winter onions/cabbage/leeks/parsnips etc are being deluged, possibly on a daily basis, with exhaust fumes. Can anyone point me in the right direction or advise me where to look to find some ammunition on this subject? I've found some on the internet, but the more the better. Thanks in advance. We may not win, but we will fight!

[Chestnut]

Sideways idea- councils are supposed to encourage green/active transport, and there would be no petrol fumes if they were used for cycle storage And/or electric vehicle charging points and only cycles, ecycles and electric cars were allowed to park there?

[Penellype]

Planting a hedge between the car park and the allotment beds would help a great deal. My allotment is next to a busy road, with a bus stop the other side of the hedge. I rarely notice any pollution issues, whereas walking along the road in rush hour can be quite unpleasant. Also, the amount of pollution in the air decreases exponentially with distance so you don't have to go too far before the pollution levels fall quite dramatically unless the wind is blowing it towards you.

Incidentally, quite a bit of the pollution caused by cars is due to particles from tyres and brake pads, which happens with electric cars too.

[nickdub]

From many years of working for a Council my advice would be publicity.

Councillors hate it when local radio or newspapers take up an issue because that can affect their public profile which feeds in to whether they get re-elected.

By all means gen up on facts, but a on-site radio interview, or a piece with photos in the local paper are worth more than a ton of facts in these situations - even better if you can kids from the local school involved.