Borough’s air quality to be monitored

“I HONESTLY don’t think the Tories understood what they voted for.”

That’s the verdict of Liberal Democrat councillor Sarah Kerr on her motion to improve air quality in the borough.

It was the last item to be debated in the chamber on Thursday evening and saw the council commit to monitoring the level of particulate matter 2.5 across the borough, continue to encourage drivers not to leave their engine ticking over at traffic lights, taxi ranks and schools.

It also seeks to boost green walls and tree planting and look at implementing a car-sharing scheme.

Cllr Kerr said in her speech to the chamber: “Climate change and air pollution are not the same thing. They are linked, but are different.

“The pollution we create in our communities is the pollution thatwe breathe in.”

She said that a large proportion of air pollution comes from road transport, and it is the fine particles, PM 2.5s, that can penetrate the bloodstream, “causing all kinds of damage”.

“An external study of levels of PM 2.5’s in Wokingham done by the British Heart Foundation demonstrated that we breach these WHO limits,” she added.

Speaking to Wokingham.Today after the meeting, Cllr Kerr felt that her Conservative counterparts amended the motion to look good.

“I originally submitted this motion in March, now they can say that the points are in the (green deal) action plan – they have a habit of claiming they are already doing stuff,” she explained, adding that she was delighted that the motion had been passed,” she said.

“Sometimes air pollution gets a bit lost in climate emergency. They go hand-in-hand but are measured in two different ways.

“People are dying of air pollution in Wokingham borough. I feel passionately about this: it causes things like cancer and allergies. We have to clean up our air.

“While cars are less polluting that theywere, we are seeing increases in volume.”

She felt that the motion was a big win: “We will be one of the few councils in the country to monitor 2.5 particles. It will be nice forWokingham to be ahead of the curve.”

She added that the council was exploring the possibility of a carsharing scheme.

“At themoment there is one car in a car pool in the borough,” she said. “We are looking at one for Shute End so that employees can use it forwork and it can be rented atweekends.

“It reduced carbon emissions and solves parking issues as well.”