Brent has many environmental problems including waste/litter, noise pollution, air pollution and traffic, the main causes are mostly found in housing, transportation and industry. Air pollution in transportation are mostly found in places like Wembley and Willesden this is because Wembley has the Wembley stadium which is a tourist attraction and that means there are more cars and coaches emitting co2 gases which pollute the air. Noise pollution is also found in transportation in places like Wembley, Willesden and the M1 this is caused by loud music and noise given off by cars. Traffic is another problem in transportation this is found in places like Wembley, Willesden and park royal places like these are heavily congested because of congestion and road works.
Industry has many problems like waste/litter which is mostly found in places like park royal this is caused because of waste material or resources that may be wasted while the production of an item. It also may cause pollution from gases given of while making a product. Air pollution is also caused in industry because of the harmful gases that are let out during the processes of making a item. Industry may also cause noise pollution because of the manufacturing taking place while making a product. Industry also causes traffic, this is because they need to deliver their goods to people which are carried in vans and cause more traffic.
Housing may also cause some environmental problems these problems mostly occur in places like church road. Housing causes problems like traffic because the building of the houses may cause diversions which may cause slow traffic. Air pollution may also be caused by the knocking down of houses and the rebuilding of new ones. Waste may also be produced from the materials left from making the houses.
Traffic congestion, poor air quality and road casualties resulting from increasing use of the motor vehicle are serious problems in London. Traffic congestion is estimated by the CBI to cost London businesses 3.8 billion p.a and mounting evidence strongly links the growing incidence of asthma and repertory illness with motor vehicle emissions as traffic volumes increase of 30% of the total greenhouse gases emissions, leading to global warming and climate change.
To combat the social, economic and environmental impacts of traffic growth the government has introduced the road traffic reduction act and the national air quality strategy. Organisations and businesses must share their responsibility in tackling the negative aspects of traffic growth by adopting travel plans which can help them to find ways to travel less, use alternatives modes of transport and encourage sensible car use.
A travel plan is a package of measures that allow organisations to understand and manage their travel needs in an environmentally sustainable manner. Travel plans are not designed to deny the freedom of car use. They aim to encourage the use of more environmentally friendly modes of transport for commuting and business journeys by encouraging a range of alternatives to single occupancy car journeys.
Under the town and country planning act 1990, every London borough was required to prepare a unitary development plan. This plan was to be the development plan for the whole local area. The plan was required to address strategic London wide issues and to contain detailed local policies. The term sustainable development is used within the UDP. This provides us with a direct link between the UDP and local agenda 21.
Brent’s UDP was adopted on February 15th 1996. It was legal document and its policies and proposals are intended to last for 10 years. Brent council is responsible for ensuring the plan is updated. The UDP for Brent has been produced within the context of national and regional planning policies as well for London.
The council will discourage traffic from using routes other then the main road network.
The council will develop a cycle route network which will contribute to a strategic cycle route network for London as a whole.
In order to provide safe and convenient routes to cyclists, the council has identified a network of projected cycle routes within the borough. The council will ensure the implementation of such a network during the lifetime of the plan. Where cycle routes cross main roads safe crossing facilities will be provided.
In response to growing concerns about the environment, the United Nations conference on environment and development in Rio De Janeiro was held in 1992. This landmark meeting, nicknames ‘the earth summit’ resulted in over 150 nations agreeing to an international plan of action to protect the environment and maintain a level of sustainable development into the 21st century.
Sustainable development is about our ability to meet our present needs whilst making sure future generations will also be able to meet theirs. This is the key understanding the overall aims of Agenda 21.
One of the countries agreeing to implement this plan was Britain. Local councils were among those identified as key players in tackling global problems and it was decided that each local council should help by implementing their own LA21.
This policy must be implemented by Brent council, working in partnership with the local community.
‘All groups and individuals within the borough will have a potentially important role to play. Action to improve the environment is likely to be most effective where it is taken on an informed basis, that is, where it is based on a knowledge and understanding of the local government
Questionnaire
1. Are you a Male or Female? Male Female
2. In what age criteria are you in? Under 18 19-30
31-40 40+
3. Do you own a car? Yes No
4. How do you make your way to work/school? Bicycle Walk Other
Car Bus
Other
If other please state here…………………………………………….
5. Do you often share a car or drive alone? Share Alone
6. Do you see improvements in Brent on traffic? Yes No
7. If yes in what ways do you think Brent has improved on in traffic?
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If no what do you think Brent can do to improve traffic problems?
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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8. What areas of Brent do you think has the worst traffic problems?
Neasden Wembley Harlesden Other
If other please state ………………………………………………
9. Do you own a bicycle? Yes No
10. Do you think Brent has done enough to encourage environmentally friendly transport like biking? Yes No
I have chosen traffic because I think Brent is dealing dealing most adequately with its traffic problems. The 2 policies I will be researching are ‘to reduce the use of private cars and increase thus use of public transport, walking and cycling, and ‘to increase car sharing’. I will use 2 methods of research these are a questionnaire and a survey.
The reason I used a questionnaire is to find out different peoples views of traffic problems.
The questions I asked where;
- Are you male or female?
The reason I asked this question is to find out equal views from both genders.
- What age criteria are you in?
I asked this question because I needed to find out different views from different people with different ages.
4. How do you make your way to school/work?
I asked this question to see if people are using environmentally friendly ways to get to school/work.
6. Do you often share a car or drive alone?
This question was asked to see if people share cars while travelling instead of travelling alone.
7. Do you see any improvements in traffic?
The reason I asked this question is too see if people saw any improvements in traffic in Brent.
8. If yes in what ways do you think Brent has improved on in traffic?
This question was asked because I wanted to see what aspects of improvement people had seen in Brent.
9. Do you own a bike?
I asked this question to see if people use other ways to travel to places.
10.Do you think Brent has done enough to encourage environmentally friendly transport like biking?
This question was asked to see if people think brent has done enough to encourage people to use environmentally friendly ways to travel.
Survey
In my survey I am trying to find out to things: to see if there is a reduction in private cars, to see if people are using environmentally ways to travel and to see if people are car sharing
My survey was 15 minutes long from 4:15pm to 4:30pm on the 1st of October 2007 and was taken place on
Wembley High road, here are my total results:
Questionnaire results
To conclude, in my coursework I am trying to find out if Brent is dealing adequately with its environmental problems, I have explained the historical context of Brent’s background;
(Brent is located in north-west of London it borders It borders to the northwest, to the northeast, to the east and , , and to the south.. Brent has many tourist attractions including the newly built Wembley stadium and the Neasden Hindu temple which is the biggest temple outside of India The London Borough of Brent is a London Borough in North West London and forms part of outer London).What main environmental problems Brent has (waste/recycling, traffic, air, noise and visual pollution).And I have done some primary data which was a questionnaire given to 10 people during the rush hour 4-4:30.I also did a survey researching my 2 policies on Wembley high road. The policies I am researching are ‘encourage car sharing’ and ‘to reduce the use of private cars and increase the use of public transport, walking and cycling.
From my primary research I was able to pick out some strengths and weaknesses,
The strengths I found in Brent’s traffic problems are that:
- Most people in Brent car share often which helps me to answer that Brent’s policy (to encourage car sharing) is true
- Environmentally ways of travelling are slowly increasing this shows us that the policy ‘ to increase the amount of public transport, biking and walking’ is only slightly efficetive
- Use of public transport has increased.
The weaknesses I found in Brent’s traffic problems are that:
- Majority of people don’t see any improvements in traffic problems
- People think that Wembley has the worst traffic problems
- Most people I asked in my questionnaire think Brent has not done enough to encourage environmentally friendly transport like biking.
I was limited to choose one environmental problem which was traffic I chose this because I think that Brent is dealing most adequately with this problem.
In this piece of coursework I have learnt that a lot of people think that there are no improvements in Brent’s traffic but really my research showed that a lot of people are using public transport, more people are walking and taking bikes to school/work and more people are car sharing.
In my coursework, I enjoyed giving out the questionnaire because I had a variety of responses of which I did not expect.
My survey was only done in one place (Wembley high road) if I had done my survey in a different place my results may have been different but the time I did it between insured me I got accurate results for the place I did my survey.
I also found out it’s not only Brent’s responsibility it is also people’s moral responsibility to take care of Brent. As well as people having a moral responsibility they also have a religious responsibility to take care of the environment around them, therefore there should be no environmental problems but some people refuse to have a moral or religious duty that is why there are still environmental problems taking place.
