Air pollution killed an estimated 257 people in Cambridgeshire in the last year. That’s the shocking figure revealed in the latest report from Public Health England.
Across the UK it is estimated that 25,002 people died because of air pollution in 2010. That included a total of 2,844 people here in the East of England.
Public Health England’s report estimates that 5.6 per cent of deaths in Eastern England were attributable to air pollution. That’s a total of 29,096 life years lost.
With pollution-related deaths in the East running at this level, it is abundantly clear that action is needed.
We need clean renewable energy rather than the burning of coal. We need a green energy revolution.
We need clean public transport options, plus a huge improvement in the numbers of people cycling and walking. We need what we in the Greens have been calling for consistently: a public transport revolution
The way in which the A14 expansion plans, for example, threaten our air quality is now something that we cannot any longer avoid taking seriously.
It’s time we recognised that air pollution is a political issue - and a life-or-death one.
We can clean up our air, but we need to force politicians to take the issue seriously which only Greens do.
RUPERT READ
Green Party lead MEP-candidate, Eastern England
FIONA RADIC
Cambs Green Party MEP-candidate
Via e-mail
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