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| Poster from Green Action Centre |
The Mayor of London has
published his long-awaited School Air Quality Audits, and they include two
Brent primary schools which are situated next to busy roads, where the pupils
are routinely exposed to illegal levels of air pollution. (1)
Clean Air for Brent is
calling for urgent action from Brent Council and Transport for London which will deliver
an immediate and positive impact on the air being breathed by children at
John Keble, Ark Franklin and other Brent schools.
We strongly urge that all such heavily
trafficked roads in Brent become Low Emission Bus Zones – where only
the cleanest buses are permitted during school travel times - and emission
levels are monitored and acted upon where found to be consistently in breach of
legal limits deemed fit for humans.
We also want to see other big
polluters such as construction lorries banned from these routes during the
start and end of school days.
And the number of children
currently transported to and from schools by car must be halved. We have
to call time on the ‘school run’.
While we welcome all schools
having travel plans and joining TfL’s STARS scheme, we call on Brent
Council to end its bizarre and perverse policy of giving
teachers more car parking permits if the school has a ‘greener’
travel plan.
Finally we wish to see the
Kensal Corridor traffic scheme - which is partly intended to tackle
pollution - suspended until it can be fully and successfully integrated with the
Ark Franklin Primary air quality improvement proposals. Both schemes need
drastic strengthening before being taken forward.
“It is time to stop playing
God with children’s lives” said Fiona Mulaisho, Chair of Clean Air for
Brent.
Editor's note: Parents may be interested in joining the Clean Air Parents' Network HERE- The Mayor’s School Air Quality Audit for Ark Franklin Primary Academy in Kensal Rise can be found here: https://bit.ly/2knrMY1 and the equivalent report for John Keble C of E Primary School in Harlesden can be found here: https://bit.ly/2x8CN8R
