City can’t go back to bad air and congestion

LEICESTER Green Party wholeheartedly support plans by the city council to look at the feasibility of a workplace parking levy scheme.

Congestion and air pollution are huge problems for our city, and a well designed WPL would revolutionise our roads, create investment for buses, walking and cycle options whilst making them safer.

Many of our schools are in heavily-congested and polluted areas of town, yet with money from WPL funds, we can access even more investment from central government, to create safe routes to every school in Leicester.

Post-Covid, we can fund free bus journey pilots for schoolchildren. Parents are often too scared to let their children walk or cycle to school and we owe it to them to make streets safer, reduce school-run car congestion , speed up journey times and be healthier and fitter.

At a time when the coroner recently ruled in a landmark case that the death of a nine-year-old schoolgirl, Ella Kissi-Debrah, was directly linked to illegal levels of air pollution, we owe it to our children to move heaven and earth to make our streets safer and introduce a WPL.

Councillor Nigel Porter is right to say the horror of Covid has reduced some commuting, but he’s not seen we have an opportunity here, too: most car journeys in Leicester are under a mile, so far better suited to walking or cycling.

People want to access vibrant, safe cities, not face gridlock, and whilst a tram service would be wonderful, there are huge amounts of other things we can do. We can’t go back to filthy air and miserable congestion.

Leicester Green Party urges the mayor to be brave, use his monopoly on power, and do the right thing for our city, our health and kids.

Mags Lewis, Leicester Green Party