Cleaner Air Champions

I am not sure how many community groups in Redbridge that Sustrans are in contact with, but if you are not, then you should be. We have a Sustrans representative coming to meet us at our next committee meeting in March, so if you would like to sit in on that do let us know. Below is the email we received. As you can see we already do a bit of that and are quite familiar with the second most polluted roundabout in London and the oak tree that sits in it’s middle as well as the other Oak abutting it.

Cleaner Air Champions is an exciting new project being run by Sustrans to reduce local air pollution and improve the areas we live in.

Did you know that pollution is a big problem in London? Although we can’t see it the air we breathe caused over 4,000 deaths in the capital last year. As well as governments taking action, there are lots of things we can do to reduce pollution and protect our health.

Sustrans are looking for enthusiastic volunteers and volunteer groups to get involved and act as Cleaner Air Champions in their local community.

Cleaner Air Champions
We will provide training, support and resources to help volunteers:

• Organise events and awareness raising activities
• Reduce air pollution by helping others to cycle or walk more
• Improve air quality by building green walls, launching anti-idling campaigns or any other great ideas
• Protect people’s health by letting people know what actions they can take to avoid areas of poor air quality e.g. promoting walking or cycling routes away from busy roads
• Monitor local air quality

We also have £10,000 of funding available to champions to help get ideas off the ground.

Guidance and Support
Sustrans will provide volunteers with support and training in their role. This will include:

• Information about the causes and impacts of air quality
• Support and resources to measure air quality in your local community
• Guidance, support and funding to take action to improve air quality in your local community.

We are particularly looking for volunteers and voluntary groups in Barkingside and Fullwell Cross, Wanstead and in Ilford around Winston Way as these are areas that are suffering from bad air quality.

For more information or if you would like to get involved please contact Kate Meakin on cleanerair@sustrans.org.uk / 0207 780 7201