Sian Berry chose Putney to launch her air pollution policy

Green Party mayoral candidate Sian Berry selected Putney as the location to launch her comprehensive plan to tackle London's air pollution yesterda (14th March).

Sian unveiled her policies in Putney High Street – the spot which has become notorious for exceeding annual legal limits of nitrogen dioxide very early in the year. With air pollution estimated to cause more than 9,500 premature deaths in London every year, Sian has listed a wide range of actions that she would carry out as Mayor to comply with air pollution laws by 2020 at the absolute latest.

On the day Sian unveiled her comprehensive plan to tackle London’s air pollution, the campaign group Clean Air in London has scored her 10/10 on the issue. The authoritative group has published a draft manifesto for the Mayoral and London Assembly elections and has undertaken to score the mayoral candidates against 10 proposed policy pledges.

As the Green candidate published her plans, the group has given her the top score, ahead of Lib Dem Caroline Pidgeon on 7/10, Labour’s Sadiq Khan on 5/10 and the Conservative Zac Goldsmith on 3/10.

Immediate measures she is pushingMarch 18, 2016rked vehicles, a higher congestion charge for all but the cleanest vehicles in Central London, and accelerating the programme of replacing diesel buses with hybrids and electric vehicles.

In the longer term, she will create a much larger Ultra Low Emission Zone, write much stronger car-free policies into the London Plan, commission a cleaner version of the ‘New Bus for London’ and expand the electric car charging network to create 25,000 charging points.

Ms Berry said, “Sixty years after the Clean Air Act helped put an end to the deadly smogs that came from coal fires and power stations, we are now faced with a comparable problem, the time for half-hearted efforts to clean up our polluted air and ensure compliance with existing laws is past. If I’m elected Mayor I will immediately exclude the most polluting cars, vans and lorries from central London, and speed up the switchover to make all new buses and taxis zero-emission. I will cancel road-building plans and oppose all airport expansion.

“I also believe in telling Londoners the truth, and I will provide warnings about bad air days so people can protect their health by cutting car use and avoiding outdoor exercise."

March 16, 2016