Jonathan Bartley, Green Parliamentary candidate for Streatham, hits out at the Lambeth Council saying “it is a scandal that Lambeth Council is happy to blame everyone else rather than get its own house in order” and urging the Labour-led council to clean up its act and follow its own transport plan.
Lambeth Green Party has called on Lambeth Council to get its house in order over deadly air pollution coming from its vehicle fleet.
It comes after revelations that most Council vehicles still run on polluting diesel, almost five years after the council promised to clean up its act.
Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones and Jonathan Bartley campaigning against the Lambeth council’s spin attempts.
An enquiry by Green Councillor Scott Ainslie revealed that none of the council’s vehicle fleet meet Euro VI standards. 75 vehicles run on polluting diesel, 14 run on petrol and only 1 is a hybrid electric/petrol.
Lambeth made a commitment in its 2011 Transport Plan to clean up its vehicle fleet. It also promised annual reports in the progress it was making. Neither has happened.
Lambeth, known by many as London’s dirtiest borough, has some of the highest pollution levels in London. Brixton Road exceeded the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) hourly limit value more times than any other site in London last year, and by the end of January this year exceeded the EU annual for ALL of 2015.
The Council has also not followed the lead of other boroughs and clamped down on vehicle “idling”. It incinerates its waste, inflicting poor air air quality on those outside the borough. It has also refused to install low-cost air pollution monitors around local schools.
Founder and director of campaign group Clean Air London, Simon Birkett said: “Concerns about air pollution, particularly NO2 and diesel exhaust, have risen exponentially.
“London needs to ban diesel from the most polluted places by 2020, as coal was banned so successfully 60 years ago, with a meaningful intermediate step by early 2018.”
It is estimated that there are over 100 deaths in Lambeth each year linked to air pollution. A report released last week by The University of Edinburgh links short-term exposure to air pollution with a higher risk of stroke. The release of the report follows a serious smog episode in the UK this month. Scientists say even short-term spikes in pollution were mirrored by a rise in strokes.
Green Party Parliamentary candidate for Streatham Jonathan Bartley said: “With every passing day, we hear further evidence that air pollution is seriously damaging health, particularly for older people and those at risk of stroke. These deaths are completely avoidable.
“It is a scandal that Lambeth Council is happy to blame everyone else rather than get its own house in order. If it was serious about tackling air quality it would lead by example, as its own transport plan said it should.”