Pollution experts call for ban on cars ‘idling’ outside schools

CARS should be banned from idling outside schools, hospitals and care homes, health bosses have suggested in a report.

The proposal is among tough new measures to prevent some 36,000 deaths a year in the UK caused by long-term exposure to air pollution.

Local authorities could enforce “no-idling zones” in areas with vulnerable populations, says a report by Public Health England.

The promotion of “eco-driving” – through reducing speed, driving smoothly and avoiding idling – would cut traffic emissions, lower fuel consumption and mean fewer traffic collisions, it claims.

The review also called for more low-emission zones and congestion charges across the country.

Footpaths, cycle paths and public transport should be improved, it said, along with more measures to boost the use of electric vehicles, such as extra charging points.

The report also suggested designing cities with wider streets and hedges to screen against pollutants.

Darren Shirley, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, welcomed the review’s “clear and sensible recommendations”.

Professor Paul Cosford, medical director at PHE, said: “We recommend that at a local level, any new policy or programme of work which affects air pollution should aim to deliver an overall benefit to the public’s health.”

Councillor Martin Tett, of the Local Government Association, said for the measures to work “they need to be underpinned by local flexibility and sufficient funding”.