Cllr Davey

Green councillors have accused Brighton & Hove’s Conservative administration of failing to tackle the city’s air quality problems.

Commenting on recently released figures for air pollution in 2009 Cllr Ian Davey, the Green spokesperson on transport, said:
“Parts of the city centre are literally choking to death. Nitrogen Dioxide levels are 25-50% above EU recommended limits in Lewes Road, Viaduct Road, Western Road and North Street where pollution levels have at best stayed the same as in 2007 and possibly deteriorated further since then.”
 
The figures emerge in a report supporting the council’s Air Quality Action Plan, which is currently being consulted on.

Cllr Davey continued:
“Conservative councillor Geoffrey Theobald has dismissed our concerns as ‘alarmist’. However, six years on from the creation of the city’s first Air Quality Management Area these figures confirm that pollution levels in some of the busiest areas of the city remain stubbornly high.
 
“The Conservative administration is failing in their duty to bring forward the policies to solve the problem. As a result residents continue to suffer the consequences.
 
“The political will to bring about the necessary changes is lacking. These figures are a terrible indictment on 3.5 wasted years from this Conservative council. We urge the administration to make tackling air quality problems a key priority for the next Local Transport Plan. The people of this city deserve nothing less.”

For more information about the Greens view:
www.brightonhovegreens.org