Healthy Air Leicester and Leicestershire - 17th September 2013

Members of Leicester Friends of the Earth have joined other local people to form a new campaign group to call for more action to tackle air pollution in Leicester and Leicestershire. We launched our campaign at 5.30pm on Tuesday 17th September with a photo stunt on the footbridge over Burley's Way, wearing gas masks to highlight the health problem created by the traffic below. We chose to launch our campaign during this week to be part of 'European Mobility Week' (16th - 22nd September), as the theme this year was 'Clean air - it's your move', with an emphasis on sustainable transport as the solution to air pollution.

'Healthy Air Leicester and Leicestershire' aims to raise awareness of air pollution, encourage people to make smarter travel choices and call for an emissions standard for buses in Leicester.

In Leicester, the main pollutant is Nitrogen dioxide, a toxic gas which aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, like asthma, and has more insidious long-term health effects. 3% of the City's population (9000 people) live in the 'Air Quality Management Area', that is, in the area where the air quality does not meet EU standards. It is estimated that air pollution causes 250 premature deaths per year in Leicester.

90% of air pollution in Leicester comes from motor vehicles and 60% of that comes from heavy vehicles. Over recent years, there has been some fluctuation of NO2 levels but there has been no discernible fall and in some areas air quality seems to be deteriorating. (Statistics taken from Leicester City's Air Quality Action Plan 2011 - 2016.)