Don't abandon clean air policies, warn scientists

Leading doctors and scientists have warned politicians against watering down plans to expand city-wide schemes aimed at reducing traffic pollution levels linked to thousands of deaths each year.

- Patrick Butler Rowena Mason

They urged politicians not to lose their nerve over plans to improve poor air quality, such as the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) in London, which they said were central to tackling "unacceptably high" levels of illness and child deaths, and called for more ambitious policies to reduce toxic air.

The Conservative party in London has said it would scrap the Ulez expansion despite a judge yesterday dismissing a legal move by five Tory-controlled councils to overturn the scheme's enlargement. There are also concerns Labour's national leadership may water down its support for clean air programmes for fear of opposition from motorists and businesses hit by charges.

Pressed on whether he was concerned by the fracturing political consensus on climate measures, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is pressing for the Ulez expansion, said: "Tackling the climate emergency and air pollution are twin emergencies we have got to address; they are bigger than party politics." He highlighted the wildfires in Greece and heatwaves in Britain, also causing fires. "People think climate change and air pollution are an issue for the global south, or for 30 years' time. They are an issue for now."

Dr Camilla Kingdon, the president of the Royal Society of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: "Action is needed in the form of clean air schemes as seen in some UK cities and nationwide, as well as clear air quality targets. At the end of the day, this is a child's rights issue, and our children need to remain at the heart of these policies."