Bristol City Council threatened with legal action over poor air quality
By Imogen Horton, News Editor
Bristol City Council has failed to produce a Clean Air plan by a deadline of December 2018, despite being provided with over half a million pounds to carry out reforms.
The Government has threatened legal action against the Bristol Mayor, Marvin Rees, over inaction on poor air quality.
In Summer 2017 a feasibility study was set up to explore various options for a Clean Air Zone in the city, however no plans have been carried out since then.
"Bristol Mayor 'stalling on city clean air plan'" - https://t.co/tDZECYMv2d
— Philip Insall (@PhilipInsall) 22 January 2019
Come on, @MarvinJRees @BristolCouncil: I'm told you have no appetite for tackling motor traffic, and it sure looks that way, but air pollution is an equalities issue and a deadly one.
So, action please.
The environment minister, Therese Coffey, has written to the Mayor stating she is 'absolutely astonished at [the Mayor’s] delay in improving air quality for the people of Bristol as quickly as possible'.
'The lives of over 300 Bristolians are cut short by toxic air each year.'
Cllr Jerome Thomas
Cllr Jerome Thomas, deputy leader of the Bristol Green councillors said that despite passing the Council motion to take action on air pollution back in 2016, over two years later 'the Labour administration is scarcely any closer to dealing with our city’s toxic air'.
'The question needs to be asked, is the Mayor letting politics get in the way of cleaning up our poisonous air? Children in our city currently inhale the equivalent of two cigarettes a day in toxic air.'
I’ve half a mind to sue the council myself. My doctor says my persistent cough is probably caused by air pollution in the centre of #Bristol https://t.co/pcm3Ez4pnX
— Callum Collins (@callumcollins) 22 January 2019
While Bristol Green candidate for Mayor, Sandy Hore-Ruthven, said:
'If Bristol City Council fails in its legal duty to comply, this is a serious failure to the people of Bristol and its environment.'
'It is frankly outrageous to continue neglecting the health and lives of Bristolians – particularly those in the most deprived areas of the city, where there are very low rates of car ownership but as many as 10% of deaths are attributable to air pollution.'
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to tackling air quality in Bristol. We are currently carrying out technical modelling work to explore fully all possible options. We’ve been clear with JAQU (the government’s Joint Air Quality Unit) that we will take the proposals forward and we are working to ensure that the potential solutions have the highest possible chance of success.
“We are therefore looking at the bigger picture including measures to cut congestion and improve public transport, infrastructure and traffic management.
“Bristol is an inclusive city and we are determined that any proposed solutions do not have a negative impact on people on low incomes. Each authority has different challenges and priorities and we are working to identify a solution specific to Bristol. We already have a number of initiatives and sustainable transport plans being developed so we need to make sure one policy doesn’t affect the whole framework. We look forward to working with government to achieve our shared goals.”
Featured Image: Pexels /pixabay.com
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