Appalling air quality is killing us all - Camden Council and TFL should do more

Well done Cllr Paul Braithwaite for spurring Camden and Islington Councils into organising Monday night’s excellent Air Quality Summit at Camden Town Hall.

The Council Chamber was packed to hear experts explaining that streets like the Euston Road are breaking European and World Health Organisation limits many times over; that more than 4,000 people are dying in the capital each year because of poor air quality; and that the lives of those 4,000+ Londoners was shortened by 11.5 years on average because of air pollution.

But mortality rates are only the tip of the iceberg – tiny diesel particles are not only getting into our lungs causing breathing problems but they’re getting into our bloodstreams causing blood-related diseases. They’re even exacerbating conditions like diabetes.

Children are the worst affected. Children breathe in twice as much pollution as adults because their mouths are closer to vehicle exhaust pipes. Children also suck in more polluted air than adults because their energy levels are higher, their lungs are bigger in relation to their bodies than adults and their lungs are not fully developed. Nor will their lungs ever develop properly if they live near busy roads, which is disproportionately the case for children of lower income, ethnic minority families.

Why aren’t we up in arms about this? It’s hard to say because air pollution is killing and injuring more people than alcohol, smoking, drugs or road accidents. Maybe it’s because the public are just not aware of how bad the situation is. Maybe it’s because diesel particulates are invisible by comparison with the pea soupers of the 1950s, which led to the Clean Air Act.

The Camden Green Party is calling on Camden Council to lobby for three significant changes which we believe would dramatically improve the situation:

1. A strong inner London Low Emissions Zone (LEZ) rather than a weak LEZ starting at the M25 which penalises the wrong drivers and doesn’t address the real problem which is central London. In Germany 40 cities have done this with great success. The Berlin LEZ is already far, far tougher than the proposed tightening of the London LEZ in January 2012.
2. Transport for London to use cleaner fuels for its buses as Camden is doing with its municipal fleet and as European cities like Lille and Malmo have been doing for years with their buses. In 2007 when I was a Camden councillor and Eco Champion I persuaded the council to run a trial of biogas made from food waste, which produces far fewer carbon emissions than diesel and involves no air quality issues. Camden now has 25 municipal vehicles running on biogas made from food waste and companies like John Lewis are starting to use the council’s refuelling facility in York Way.
3. Transport for London to help black cab taxis move from diesel to biogas or electricity. TFL should pay for the development and the refit of cab engines, then recoup the cost via a precept on future cab fares.

If you’re concerned about air quality in your area, then there are two groups you can go to for help with measuring pollution: the Campaign for Clean Air in London and the Healthy Air Campaign. We recommend signing up to airTEXT which warns you by text or email when air quality is bad.

You could also write to the Mayor of London and express your concern about his lack of action on this critical issue. According to leading air quality campaigners the Mayor has shown zero leadership on this issue despite surveys regularly putting air quality among the top concerns of Londoners. Or you could take a more direct route and vote him out of office in the Mayoral elections in May.

Natalie Bennett, Alexis Rowell & Cllr Maya de Souza Camden Green Party