Greens take aim at cleaning up city’s bad air quality if re-elected

Plans to make travelling Brighton & Hove cleaner and easier are at heart of Green Party manifesto plans 

Greens say that they will take action to improve air quality if re-elected on 4th May. Pointing to statistics from the 2022 air quality monitoring report, Greens say that although good progress is being made, a bold and comprehensive approach is the only thing that will help make Brighton and Hove breathable.

Government statistics show that poor air quality is responsible for between 28,000 and 36,000 premature deaths every year, with many experts pointing to the inequalities created by poor air quality which adversely affects the most vulnerable.

In addition, the latest air quality report for Brighton & Hove highlights that “The highest levels of local pollution are found in AQMA1” which includes much of the city centre including North Street and London Road.

Greens say that this would “dramatically improve” by expanding the city centre’s ultra-low emissions zone, which would raise charges on the most-polluting cars on the road in the city centre. This approach has proven to work in cities such as Birmingham and London, where nitrogen dioxide has massively decreased.

Alongside measures to clean up the city’s air, Greens are focused on greener travel to ensure that walking, cycling and busing around the city is a cheap, efficient and reliable option to take. This will be continued via protecting and expanding bus passes and infrastructure, building new cycle routes and launching more e-bikes across the city.

A report to the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee in January 2021 outlined initial options for a liveable city centre, which was given the nod for further feasibility studies and business cases to be developed as part of this comprehensive proposal to clean up the city’s air.

Raphael Hill, Green Party candidate for Round Hill, said: 

“There is a clear evidence base for action – improving air quality saves lives and levels out inequalities. We believe that expanding our already existing ultra-low emissions-zone into a London-style zone would be a critical step for action in making our city’s air cleaner to breathe.

“Under Green leadership, work on this has already begun with initial feasibility study showing the real positive benefits it will bring. We will continue this work, developing the evidence and business case for going forward with our plans.” 

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