LONDON'S AIR QUALITY IS BOTH ILLEGAL AND DEADLY
We're calling on the Mayor to take action to clean it up.
Can you help us show Sadiq Khan that Londoners care about cleaner air by filling in our quick survey below before Thursday 28th July at noon?
Our Mayor, Sadiq Khan is currently consulting on plans to reduce pollution, and LCC will be submitting a response to his proposals on Friday 29th July. We'll include the survey results in our response to help show Sadiq that urgent action must be taken.
We will make sure that Sadiq hears the message that it won’t be enough to promote cleaner vehicle technology: to clean up London’s air it will also be vital to enable a mass switch to cycling and walking – which emits no pollution – as well as promote public transport and smarter car use.
What's the problem?
Not only does London's air quality continue to breach EU legal limits, it’s much worse than the standards called for by the World Health Organisation. And it’s a killer, with almost 10,000 Londoners dying prematurely every year as a result of air pollution.
Air pollution costs London's economy £3.7 billion, 24% of primary schools are in areas that breech the legal limit for NO2 (air pollution) and you are twice as likely to die from lung diseases if you live in deprived areas vs affluent areas of London.
Doctors working on the problem in London say that children spending their early years in parts of the city are suffering serious, long term – sometimes permanent - impacts to their health and development. Read more about London's poor air quality.
It’s an unacceptable situation.
Mayor's Proposals
London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan has promised to reduce pollution and has launched an initial consultation on his plans.
He is proposing to levy charges on the most polluting cars, vans and HGVs (especially diesels), as well as make buses cleaner. Specifcally:
bring the implementation of the central London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) forward by one year to 2019
expand the ULEZ beyond central London in 2020
introduce a new Emissions Surcharge from 2017 for the most polluting vehicles entering central London
give TfL the go-ahead to start looking at a diesel scrappage scheme as part of a wider national scheme run by the government
keep Londoners better informed and alerted when pollution is at its worst
make sure TfL leads by example, by cleaning up its bus fleet and buying only hybrid or zero emission double-decker buses from 2018
Read more about his proposals and respond directly to the Mayor's consultation.
What is LCC doing?
London Cycling Campaign will be responding to the consultation. We will make sure that Sadiq hears the message that it won’t be enough to promote cleaner vehicle technology: to clean up London’s air it will also be vital to enable a mass switch to cycling and walking – which emits no pollution – as well as promote public transport and smarter car use. We’ll also tell him that tough action is required all over London, not just where pollution is worst, as currently proposed.
We need your help to add weight to our response. Please fill in the one minute survey above. The closing date is Thursday 28th July at noon. The results will be put into LCC’s full consultation response which we'll be sending ahead of the overall consultation deadline on Friday.
This is an urgent, life or death issue. The more of us who send him a message that Londoners and everyone who spends time in our city deserve to breath clean air, the more likely he will push through tough new anti-pollution measures.
(LCC is part of the Healthy Air Campaign, which is made of organisations like Greenpeace, the British Heart Foundation and Client Earth)