Sunday 31 March 2019

Healthy Air Manifesto for Leicester



In 2015, in conjunction with other local campaign groups, we launched our first Healthy Air Manifesto for Leicester. Four years later, we have published a new list of policies that we think are necessary to reduce the levels of air pollution in Leicester. 

Healthy Air Manifesto for Leicester


Version 2: Spring 2019


Air pollution contributes to respiratory illnesses, heart disease, cancer and even Alzheimer’s disease. Half of Leicester residents are concerned about air pollution. We want to live in a city where the air is clean and does not damage anyone’s health. We welcome Leicester City Council’s action on air pollution, with the target for increasing cycling, the electric taxi charging points and road space re-allocation schemes, like that being implemented on London Road. However, with the new understanding about the scale of the environmental crisis facing our planet and the City Council’s declaration of a climate emergency, we believe there is still more that can be done.

Reducing the overall level of motor traffic is the most effective way to tackle air pollution, reduce climate change emissions and create a renewed sense of community. We are calling for the council to take the following urgent steps to protect our right to breathe clean air:

1. Create a city-county transport planning group to co-ordinate transport planning between the two councils.


Reduce pollution from public transport
2. Introduce a Class D charging Clean Air Zone in the Air Quality Management Area. 

3. Conduct a feasibility study into building a tram and/or trolleybus system in Leicester to provide pollution-free (at point of use), reliable mass transportation.

4. Electrify the bus fleet on a rolling programme, starting with the vehicles on the most polluted routes.

5. Adopt the same timetable as Oxford City Council to clean up taxis, with a phased approach that requires all Hackney carriage taxi drivers to have zero-emission capable vehicles by 2025 to receive a licence to operate in Leicester.  

6. Convert the Midland Mainline and CrossCountry train line to run on electricity or hydrogen. Investigate re-opening urban railway stations, like Wigston, and branch lines along heavily populated routes.

7. Follow the example of Paris in establishing a car-free day within the inner ring road every month, to encourage people to explore alternative means of transport and reduce pollution.


Reduce the number of trips by private motor vehicles

8. Re-regulate the bus companies to control ticket prices and increase patronage. Make bus travel free for children.


9. Establish a Workplace Parking Levy to charge employers who provide car parking. Re-invest any money raised through this scheme in public and active transport. 

10. Set a limit for the amount of car parking spaces available in the city centre and commit to a programme to gradually reduce that number. Require all car parks to provide secure bike storage.

11. Accelerate the process of re-allocating road space to more sustainable forms of transport, such as active and public transport, and ensure that new cycle provision is always physically segregated.  


Education
12. Run a campaign to make car drivers more aware of cyclists and improve their safety.

13. Follow the example of York City Council in introducing a campaign to stop drivers idling their engines and enforce the law with a fine.


14. Run a smarter choices travel planning programme for journeys to school across the city, to encourage parents and children to walk, cycle or take the bus and thereby reduce pollution around schools.

15. Enforce Leicester City Council’s Smoke Control Area to ensure that only smokeless fuel is burnt in domestic stoves. 

16. Raise awareness of air pollution to help vulnerable people to reduce their exposure and encourage people to change their behaviour to reduce their contribution to the problem.

Wednesday 20 March 2019

Beasts of the Southern Wild.

The last film in the 'Green Screen' series at the Phoenix was Beasts of the Southern Wild. 

The student climate strikers began the evening with a very inspiring talk about why they are making a global protest against climate change and why we should all try to make a difference.   

Lucia and Amy said they held a protest in Leicester on the 15th March to raise awareness about climate change.  They gave out leaflets to people walking by – some people accepted the leaflets, some didn’t but Lucia said it was the 70% who stopped to talk to them, supported them but just accepted climate change – that really frightened her.  People who said yes, we know it is true but we have no power to change or stop it, so can do nothing to prevent it happening.  People in the street thought that they alone as individuals had no way of stopping the progress of climate change.  Lucia agreed with them she said as individuals we can’t stop it but we have to come together to fight this – if people don’t care about themselves, they should care about their children’s future, their grandchildren’s future.  She said we need to come together to fight this and we need to make governments listen and help before it is too late. 

We then watched a film about an area of land called ‘the bathtub’ which was due to go under water when the ice cap melts and the water level rises.  The film was about the families who lived there knowing that the water level would rise.  A wall had been built to protect people from the rising water but some families were on the wrong side of the wall…. Some of them left, taking as many of their belongings as they could and some of them said they would stay as it was their home and where they made a living.  The rains came though and the water level rose – some of the people survived and some didn’t. 

It is difficult for me to tell the story because it broke my heart – watching family’s homes (albeit very poor homes) going under water as climate change hits with such devastating results.  I think it was even more traumatic because children were involved and just makes me ask – how can we let this happen?

As the Student Strikers said at the beginning of the film – we must stop this – we must get governments to listen…. Lucia and Amy said they worried about the 70% who were indifferent – who say we can’t do anything about climate change – we can’t get people to listen and change things….  But one thing is for sure – we will keep trying, striving for change, striving to make the Governments of the world wake up to the reality of what will happen if we don’t sort this out.

We will keep trying to make Governments listen, trying to get society to change its ways, we will keep trying – and we will win – because we have to…..