24 April 2017,
Dear West Midlands mayoral candidates
Air pollution is affecting the health of people right here in the West Midlands, from the womb to old age. It also affects the youngest, the oldest and the poorest most. It is linked to premature births and stunted lung growth in children and a real risk for those with a heart or lung condition, increasing the chance of being hospitalised or dying from an attack. In the West Midlands alone, it is estimated that 375,800 people have cardiovascular disease and 268,400 people have asthma.
From Wolverhampton to Coventry, legal limits of air pollution are broken in every single local authority in the West Midlands. But, it doesn’t have to be like this. We have the technology and the tools to clean our air. Now we need our leaders to act.
We ask you, as our potential future mayor, to put the health of our communities first. Please use all your new powers and influence to ensure the West Midlands meets legal limits for air pollution as soon as possible and no later than 2020. Clean Air Zones can take the dirtiest vehicles out of the most polluted places and should be supported by action and investment to help more of us use public transport, walk and cycle. This will make our road transport network cleaner, safer and more efficient.
Dealing with this public health problem is also an opportunity to create jobs and update our economy by developing clean technology and industry. Will you join other leaders throughout the country in calling on the Government to introduce a new Clean Air Act for the 21 st Century, enshrining the right to breathe clean air into UK law and ensuring the UK becomes a world leader in clean technology solutions?
Our region needs a strong leader with a strong vision. You can create a vision for a healthier, sustainable and prosperous West Midlands and, if you do, we will be here to help you achieve it.
Yours sincerely
Sarah Gray
Service Development Manager, Midlands, British Lung Foundation
Dr Alan Taylor
Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Management and Service Development, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, Coventry University
Dr Louise Sewell
Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, Coventry University
Dymphna Medlock
Respiratory Clinical Nurse Specialist, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire
Claire Morrissey
Solutions & Development Manager, Wolverhampton CCG
Steve Barlow
Health Protection Lead Practitioner, Public Health Wolverhampton City Council
Dr Arvind Rajasekaran
Consultant Respiratory Physician, Sandwell And West Birmingham NHS Hospitals Trust
Dr Zongbo Shi
Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham
Professor Roy Harrison OBE
Professor of Environmental Health, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham
Dr Alice Turner
Director of R&D and Honorary Consultant Respiratory Physician, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Juana-Mari Delgado Saborit
Lecturer in Environmental Health, University of Birmingham
John Davison
Acting Chair, Living Streets Birmingham
Kamran Fazil
Chair, Footsteps
Chris Crean
Campaigner, Friends of the Earth West Midlands
Karen Leach
Joint Co-ordinator, Localise West Midlands
Anna Bright
Chief Executive, Sustainability West Midlands
Kevin Chapman
Chair, West Midlands Campaign for Better Transport
Fran Elder
Co-ordinator, Birmingham 20’s Plenty
Chris Terrell
Chair, Wolves on Wheels Cycle Campaign Group
David Cox
Chair, Bike West Midlands Network
Chris Lowe
Chair, Push Bikes – The Birmingham Cycle Campaign
Georgia Stokes
Chief Executive, The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country
Supported by:
Penny Woods
CEO, British Lung Foundation
Stephen Joseph
Chief Executive, Campaign for Better Transport
James Thornton
CEO, ClientEarth
Paul Tuohy
CEO, Cycling UK
Craig Bennett
CEO, Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland
Robbie Young
Vice-President (Society and Citizenship), National Union of Students
Joe Irvin
CEO, Living Streets
Professor Stephen Holgate
Special Adviser on Air Quality to the Royal College of Physicians, MRC Clinical Professor of Immunopharmacology
Xavier Brice
CEO, Sustrans
Leo Murray
Director of Strategy, 10:10 Climate Action
Danielle Paffard
UK Divestment Campaigner, 350
