Green Mayoral candidate Jenny Jones was today joined by Green Party London West Central candidate, Susanna Rustin, as she launched the Green Party’s air pollution manifesto and canvassed supporters in Marylebone.
Jenny Jones said: "Air pollution is now the second biggest killer in the Capital and is rapidly emerging at the number one public health issue for Londoners.
"We simply cannot go on as we are. It is a scandal that the response of our current Conservative mayor has been to try and hide the problem rather than take steps to deal with its causes.
"By electing more Green Assembly Members this year, London can help ensure that this crucial issue is given the attention it needs by City Hall."
Susanna Rustin said: "Central London residents are suffering as a direct consequence of mayor Boris Johnson’s refusal to take air pollution seriously.
"New research proves bad air episodes are followed by an increase in strokes, and as a mother of small children growing up in Westminster I am extremely concerned about the risk to health especially in the area around Marylebone Road where the air quality is terrible."
"Elect more Green Assembly members like me and we will promise to hold the mayor to account and get tough on the worst polluters."
Greens on the London Assembly have been vociferously critical of ‘Dirty Boris’ and his lax attitude towards clean air enforcement. Boris has sent out vehicles to try and suppress the pollution around air quality monitors by ‘sticking’ pollution to the roads. This has been termed by campaigners "public health fraud on an industrial scale."
Our 8 points on air pollution:
1. We will make sure that air pollution is monitored in the right places, and publicise bad results widely, particularly to vulnerable people such as children and the elderly as part of a campaign to improve the public’s understanding of the problem.
2. We will require all schools, retirement homes and care homes to develop air quality action plans that lower pollution in their local area and protect children and residents during bad air episodes.
3. We will tighten up the Low Emission Zone standards and make sure they are properly enforced through vehicle checks, with a new ban on idling for parked vehicles. Introduce a Very Low Emission Zone in central London to exclude all but the cleanest vehicles.
4. We will retrofit all buses immediately if the technology is shown to work, and make sure that all new buses are low emission hybrid, hydrogen or electric models within one year of being elected, and that the entire fleet runs on this technology by 2016.
5. We will introduce a pay-as-you-drive scheme, to encourage people out of their cars, and provide the necessary investment in London’s public transport infrastructure.
6. We will buy a fleet of low emission taxis for drivers to rent if they can’t afford to buy one, and set-up a clean vehicle fund with low cost loans for small and medium sized businesses to replace dirty vehicles with electric equivalents, offering them a discount on pay-as- you-go driving charges so it is cost neutral.
7. We will work with the Government and Network Rail to reduce emissions from trains and planes. Push for the closure of City Airport, and convert it into the first Community Enterprise Zone. We will lobby to ban night flights over London.
8. We will ensure all planning applications are air quality neutral, and require new developments to reduce air pollution in the most heavily polluted areas.