We are campaigning for cleaner air for Hackney's children
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Our fight for clean air isn't over.
It's just begun.
We still need your help
Hackney Council insists on starting their 18 month trial of their road closure scheme for the Walford Road area this week: 28th September. These road closures will push even more traffic onto streets with schools and nurseries and increase the already extremely high levels of air pollution affecting Hackney children.
We have repeatedly asked Hackney Council to pause or mitigate these closures until air pollution has been reduced. But, despite three quarters of local citizens opposing the scheme in the latest consultation, Hackney Council have decided to ignore us and push ahead with these reckless road closures.
We are Clean Air 4 Schools, a group of Stoke Newington parents. For the past two and a half years, with the wonderful help of you, our community, we have campaigned hard to put air quality for schools and nurseries on the agenda. Together, we have demanded that Hackney Council prioritise all Hackney children's health. Together, we have succeeded in delaying the closures and their harmful effects for as long as we possibly could.
We are heartbroken that we've not been able to prevent the scheme
- but there is hope.
This scheme is a trialscheme. Hackney Council are obliged to monitor and review the full impacts of the trial before they make it permanent. And we at Clean Air 4 Schoolswill continue to hold the Council to account by making sure they monitor accurately and comprehensively. Our team will have regular access to the data so that we can make our own, independent, assessments - and we will challenge the Council where necessary.
But we still need your help! What can you do?
Clean Air 4 Schoolsgives heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you who marched, protested, signed petitions, delivered leaflets, donated, shared facts and challenged these damaging plans.
But we haven’t finished yet, so once again, we call upon you to keep fighting for our community. This is a trial scheme, so we all must gather as much evidence as possible during the trial so that we can hold the Council to account and prove why we think these closures shouldnotbe made permanent.
From Monday 28th September 2020, we ask that you watch your neighbourhood roads and schools/nurseries carefully:
Monitor the traffic and take videos and photos with dates and times, and share your evidence with us at Clean Air 4 Schools.
Campaign for the Council to take traffic counts at your school/nursery or on your road.
Be alert to health impacts from air pollution on you and your children and record them.
Continue to press the Council - via emails and tweets to Councillor Jon Burke, Mayor Glanville and Diane Abbott MP (see below for emails).
Have your say by logging your comments on the Council’s 'commonplace' website (also below) as soon as possible. Tell the Council why your voice matters.
Together, we must continue to fight these harmful and unnecessary road closures. Thank you!
How to contact us:
https://www.cleanair4schools.co.uk/
Facebook: @cleanair4schools
Twitter: @clean_air4
Email: cleanair4schools@gmail.com
Please also send your views and evidence to the following representatives- they all have power over whether this trial scheme will get made permanent.
(NB also consider forwarding your emails to us, so that we can use them in our fight to hold the Council to account and amplify your voice.)
Diane.abbott.office@parliament.uk- local MP
jon.burke@hackney.gov.uk- Councillor in charge of road closure scheme
Philip.Glanville@Hackney.gov.uk- Mayor of Hackney
mayor@london.gov.uk- Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
Streetscene.consultations@hackney.gov.uk- Hackney Council office in charge of scheme
You can also log comments for Hackney Council here:
walfordroadhackney.commonplace.is
Why this matters
Children's lungs are especially vulnerable to the effects of poor air quality. Exposure to high levels of pollution can bring about asthma and seriously stunt lung growth. And yet we ask them to run around, breathing deeply in playgrounds that have harmful levels of pollution. We owe them a better legacy of their schooldays.
Contact Us
Get in touch with Clean Air 4 Schools to learn more about our work and how you can get involved.