LABOUR Party activists, protesting against high levels of pollution in Calne, are calling for a drastic reduction in the number of lorries driving through the town.

Demonstrating outside the White Hart Hotel, party members donned protective suits, gave out face masks and conducted a HGV count to highlight the problem in the town caused by lorry traffic.

Certain hotspots, such as the double roundabout outside the White Hart, are frequently pushed beyond European guidelines for air quality due to the numbers of lorries operating in those areas.

The Labour Party has been demanding the Calne Air Quality Action Plan significantly reduce the number of lorries passing through Calne.

Jon Fisher, leading member on this issue for Calne Labour, said: “The problem is lorries moving slowly through the town, often stuck in traffic and emitting fumes.

“This is at the same time as our kids are walking to school and it poses a real health emergency.

“We have asked Councillor Glenis Ansell, who chairs the Calne Air Quality Group, to include an ambitious target to reduce the number of lorries which pass through the town.

“So far, she seems happy with a plan that does not even touch on lorry numbers.

“We think that is not good enough, so we will keep highlighting this issue and keep pressing Coun Ansell to be bolder.”

During their protest in the morning rush hour the Labour Party counted 124 HGVs in 100 minutes, more than one a minute, passing by The White Hart Hotel.

Chairman Ansell said: “To be honest they are coming to this very late. It is not as if we have not done these types of protests before.

“I am more than happy to work with the Labour Party but it is in the action plan to try and restrict the numbers coming through.

“The road through Calne is a lorry route so you cannot restrict them in that way. All you can do is restrict the businesses that they go to.

“They are associated with Hills Waste so we rejected the planning application they had in September for them to become permanent and extend their premises.

“They have got the wrong end of the stick on several occasions. With the library changes they started a protest against the possibility of losing it and that was never going to happen."