News / Environment
‘It’s outrageous to continue neglecting the health and lives of Bristolians’
Bristol City Council could face legal action over its failure to reduce toxic levels of air pollution.
In a letter to mayor Marvin Rees, environment minister Therese Coffey stated she was “absolutely astonished at the delay in improving air quality for the people of Bristol as quickly as possible”.
She claims the Government has given the council the required support and funding to ensure it could provide a Clean Air plan by the end of 2018, yet a final plan is yet to be submitted.
is needed now More than ever
The council has hit back at the comments, arguing that it is fully committed to tackling poor air quality, but is focusing on the bigger picture, while ensuring that any proposed solutions do not have a negative impact on people on low incomes.
Bristol is among the worst cities in the UK for air pollution levels and was ordered by the government to submit plans to tackle this.
Campaigners are calling for faster action to tacke Bristol’s poor air quality
In October 2017, Rees, along with other Core City leaders, signed a statement saying the Government’s Air Quality Plan is not sufficient to address health challenges and fails to give councils resources they need to make a difference.
Bristol’s Green councillors have spoken out to condemn the lack of action.
“Greens first passed the council motion to commit Bristol to take action on air pollution back in 2016,” said Jerome Thomas, a Green councillor for Clifton.
“Over two years later, it seems the Labour administration is scarcely any closer to dealing with our city’s toxic air – to the extent that the Government is now considering legal action against the council for failing to meet its legal requirement to set out plans by the required deadline.
“Meanwhile, the lives of over 300 Bristolians are cut short by toxic air each year.
“I was willing to give the mayor the benefit of the doubt for a long time, but I have to say it is beginning to look like these delays are due to either a lack of interest in prioritising clean air for Bristol or deliberate interference with the feasibility study that was commissioned to find a solution.
“This study is supposed to be impartial, yet the mayor’s political views are clear from repeated statements implying he is opposed to options that charge polluting vehicles – despite this likely being the most effective way to protect the health of Bristolians. 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.”
‘Children in our city currently inhale the equivalent of two cigarettes a day in toxic air’
Sandy Hore-Ruthven, the Greens’ mayoral candidate added: “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 per cent of deaths are attributable to air pollution.”
Responding to the warning from the environment minister, 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 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.”
Read more: Is Clean Air Zone enough to address Bristol’s public health crisis?
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