Air Quality is Important

Last Night I was at Epping Forest's District Councils Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I was there because I had put in a so called PICK form which allows me as a Councillor and indeed you as a citizen to raise something important to be looked at by a group of Councillors. I was seconded by a Lib Dem Councillor and a Loughton Residents Association Councillor. The form asked the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to see if they would look into the issue of Air Pollution, particularly particulates which the World Health Organisation has linked to heart disease and cancer.1 I was prompted by a report by Public Health England that highlighted that 1 in 17 of all deaths in Epping Forest can be attributed to particulates.2 While it is true pollution does travel we can still do our bit to reduce the problem. I am glad to say a majority of the Committee saw it as an issue worthy to look into and referred it to the Safer, Cleaner Greener Panel which I am on. 1,http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/ 2,https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimating-local-mortality-burdens-associated-with-particulate-air-pollution