Council plans consultation on drive to make Croydon’s air cleaner, greener and safer

Croydon Council will be urging the community to get involved in its drive to tackle pollution and make the borough’s air cleaner, greener and safer, a cabinet report reveals.

Published today (13 March 2017), the report outlines plans to launch an extensive consultation with residents, businesses and other stakeholders – including through an air quality summit – as it prepares Croydon’s Draft Action Air Quality Plan 2017-22.

Croydon has a strong track record in pioneering initiatives to address the effects of air pollution. In 2007 the council launched airText, a European first, to send air pollution alerts to vulnerable people who are affected by air pollution. This scheme is now London-wide.

As part of the consultation process, the Draft Action Air Quality Plan will take into account the recommendations of the air quality scrutiny committee which met on 31 January 2017. Their proposals included a range of initiatives to both reduce pollution and minimise its impact, from reducing service deliveries and freight into the borough at certain times, to planting ‘green walls’ to filter harmful emissions outside schools and new developments.

Cabinet members will be asked to give the go-ahead for consultation to begin at their meeting next Monday (20 March).

“The quality of the air we breathe has a huge impact on our quality of life. Pollution impacts everyone’s health and well-being, but it has a disproportionate effect on the most vulnerable, such as children, older people and those with health conditions. Improving air quality is vital if we want to make Croydon not only cleaner and greener but also safer.

“However, we cannot do this in isolation. With the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan providing clear leadership on this issue at a national and London level, there has never been a better time to act. We strongly support his plans to improve air quality across the capital and his call for Government to give local authorities greater power to tackle the problem. It is time to work with him, our local partners and the community to achieve real change.

“Croydon’s residents and businesses have been fantastic in supporting us in our drive to clean up the streets through our Don’t Mess With Croydon campaign – now we are asking them to work with us to improve air quality. I hope everyone will get involved in helping us draw up our plan of action.”

Councillor Stuart King, cabinet member for transport and environment

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The whole of Croydon has been designated as an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) since 2000 due to exceedances of the nitrogen dioxide air quality objective. As such we have a statutory requirement to produce an Air Quality Action Plan. Croydon has produced three Air Quality Action Plans with the current plan ending in 2017.

2017-03-13T13:49:51+00:00 March 13th, 2017|Recent news|