“The Breathe Better campaign is really disappointing and inadequate compared to the scale of London’s air pollution challenge” says Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones who has criticised how the warning has been broadcast, the steps taken to protect hospitals and schools and the steps taken to reduce pollution during the high pollution period.
The Mayor has issued his first high air pollution warning since he launched his breathe better together campaign in January. The warning went out via Airtext and the LonGov twitter account to around ten thousand people, rather than the Boris Johnson account which has over a million followers. Jenny Jones AM has previously criticised the Mayor of London’s public awareness campaign on the health risks of dirty air as “inadequate compared to the scale of London’s air pollution challenge”. The Mayor had previously informed Jones that his Breathe Better Campaign would target vulnerable groups. He said “detailed messaging and resources [will be] aimed at more specialist users (schools, hospitals, emergency services etc)”
Baroness Jenny Jones pictured with Ken Livingston, former Mayor of London.
Jenny Jones AM said:
“The Breathe Better campaign is really disappointing and inadequate compared to the scale of London’s air pollution challenge. It appears to be about advising the victims of air pollution rather than the polluters. The Mayor’s small, simple steps fail to properly include action to be taken by drivers who cause the pollution in the first place.
They fail to guarantee that all schools, hospitals will be notified when there are pollution episodes and fail to use the public information network to get the message out via Transport for London”
Jones has also called for the following actions during high and very high pollution episodes:
Restricting road vehicle access for non-essential journeys
Regional weather updates to include information about harmful emissions (PM and NO2) levels during pollution episodes
Ban school run during pollution episodes. Ensure that schools in high risk areas have school travel plans with information for children and parents to avoid pollution exposure. The Mayor via his Clean Air Fund should be helping them to analyse their pollution risk and develop action plans.