Westminster parents say pollution plans far too weak
Parents in Marylebone have teamed up with Westminster Healthy Streets to tell Westminster City Council its air pollution plans aren’t ambitious enough. They are urging other local residents to respond to the Air Quality Action Plan consultation by Friday 6th March.
They agree with us that the plan's actions fall far too short in one of London’s worst boroughs for air pollution. The consultation tells us that roads are the main culprit, but doesn’t commit to reducing motor traffic. Instead it treats electric vehicles as a silver bullet.
By contrast, the City of London Air Quality Strategy aims to reduce all motor traffic (including electric) by 25% by 2030 and 50% by 2044.
Clare Thomas lives near Dorset Square, one of Westminster’s most polluted areas, and has two young children: “Knowing how bad our local air pollution is is an active deterrent to taking our children outside to play”. She urges people to respond to the consultation before it closes on Wednesday 26th February and tell the council to commit to reducing all traffic, not just encourage electric vehicles.
Waltham Forest’s programme of low traffic neighbourhoods has seen the number of households exposed to illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide drop - from 60,000 in 2007 to 6,000 in 2017 - as well as many more people walking and cycling.