 |
From Left to Right
Victoria Secretan - CAfB steering group member
Prof Martin Williams, Kings College London, speaker
Fiona Mulaisho, CAfB Chair
Robin Sharp, CAfB Treasurer
Jennifer Barrett, Brent Council, speaker
|
The campaign group Clean Air for Brent (CAfB) recently
challenged all party leaders to pledge to clean up the borough’s dirty air in
the May 2018 local elections, and has now received clean air policy statements
from the four main parties.
At a borough-wide public meeting held in Harlesden on
Wednesday 18th April, all the party statements were made available,
and chair Fiona Mulaisho urged residents to think about air quality when they
go to the ballot box on 3 May. She says:
“We as
residents all need to do our part, but the Council must lead us with meaningful
action to reduce air pollution and enforcement to back it up. We will hold all
those elected on 3 May to their promises on clean air. Securing clean air
for Brent should be the defining issue of the next 4 years.”
The party statements can all be read in full on the CAfB website HERE
Keynote speaker at the public meeting, Professor Martin
Williams of Kings College London told attendees that air pollution is
a significant risk factor for a number of diseases and health
conditions. These include respiratory infections, heart disease, COPD, stroke
and lung cancer.
The most common sources of air pollution include particulates,
ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide from road traffic.
In Brent, it is estimated that at least 160 premature
deaths per annum are directly attributable to air pollution, with a further
unquantifiable number linked to dirty air.
Editor's note: One rather surprising and welcome pledge is that from the Conservatives backing what has been Green Party policy for some time to divest the Brent Pension Fund of its fossil fuel investments and ensuring that Brent makes not further investments in fossil fuels.
No comments:
Post a Comment