Joanne McCartney, Labour London Assembly Member for Enfield and Haringey, has criticised Mayor of London Boris Johnson for complacency in addressing poor air quality in the capital after the city is coated in smog. Some schools in London have banned their children from outdoor playgrounds to protect their health.
After today’s reports of Bowes and Chesterfield schools in Enfield banning their children from playing outside as a result of the poor air quality, Joanne McCartney has demanded that the Mayor rapidly enhances his efforts to tackle air pollution in the city. As a result of poor air quality, over 4,000 Londoners die every year. However, the Mayor’s Ultra Low Emission Zone will not be introduced until after he has left City Hall. The Mayor also prioritised purchasing a few hundred of his new ‘RouteMaster’ buses, rather than retrofitting the entire fleet of over 8,000 London buses to make them less polluting.
Joanne McCartney AM, London Assembly for Enfield and Haringey said:
“The heavy smog that we are currently experiencing should be a wake-up call to the Mayor to take decisive action to tackle air pollution in London sooner rather than later. There has been no advice or leadership on this issue and local schools in Enfield have today taken the decision to keep children inside as a precaution. It is not fair or practical to continue to keep children inside during their break time because of London’s poor air quality which is not improving quickly enough.
“The Mayor needs to take urgent action and show leadership on this issue. Londoners are feeling the real effect of this smog and whilst the sand from the Sahara is a contributing factor to this episode, poor air quality kills over 4,000 Londoners each year and children are the most vulnerable and affected by air pollution. A major contributing factor to London’s air pollution is particle matter from diesel engines therefore the Mayor should bring forward his Ultra Low Emission Zone and retro-fit the entire London bus fleet to make them less polluting.”
The Mayor’s own Air Quality Strategy states that buses contribute significantly to pollution in London. During this year’s City Hall budget setting process, the Mayor was presented with a fully costed plan to establish a £25m fund to make London’s entire bus fleet less polluting and meet the Euro VI standard. This programme would have seen the fleet retrofitted by December 2015, however, the Mayor rejected this plan. By the time his Ultra Low Emission Zone is introduced in 2020, approximately 51,000 Londoners would have died as a result of air pollution since he was elected in 2008.
Studies have shown that children are a particularly vulnerable to air pollution due as they spend more time outdoors, are generally more active, and have higher ventilation rates than adults.