Text of email to councillors on the Enfield Environment Forum, sent 8th March 2023
Dear Chair and dear Councillors, Members of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Panel,
We are writing to you in advance of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Panel meeting of 14 March, which will consider Enfield’s new Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP).
We would like to draw your attention to the Enfield Climate Action Forum (EnCAF) report which we submitted as part of the consultation process in May 2022, and which can be found in the attached document. Our report was the result of careful reading of the draft AQAP and extensive research of the issues involved. We believe that the proposals which we put forward deserve further consideration with a view to incorporate them in the Action Plan under discussion at your meeting on 14 March.
In particular we would like to highlight four main areas which, in our opinion, require urgent attention and action on the part of Enfield Council:
- Improving the collection of data by increasing the number and type of air pollution monitoring devices. Data gathering is essential to developing an effective plan of action that considers all areas of the borough and their specific needs in terms of air quality. Better information and data will also contribute significantly to raising awareness among the public. (This topic is covered under point A, page 2 and pages 6-7 of our report.)
- The Key Recommendations to Councils from the GLA Local Authorities and Air Quality Report of January 2022, particularly “Meeting the interim WHO health-based target of 10ug/m3 by 2030 target for PM2.5 with an increased focus on non-transport emissions.” (see point 1.7 page 5; and Appendix A, page 10 of our report)
- The need to give high priority to areas of social and economic deprivation, in recognition of the well documented facts that air pollution tends to be higher in such areas and the multiple vulnerabilities of the affected communities. (page 3, point C; and point 2.1 page 5 of our report).
- In order to tackle effectively air pollution in Enfield we believe that there is an urgent need to allocate to this area of work more resources, both human and material. We believe it is the only way to ensure that this public health crisis is given the much needed priority and attention.
We would be happy to provide any further information that we can in advance of the meeting or to speak by phone if that is more convenient.
Kind regards,
Aurora Yaacov
EnCAF’s Air Pollution Working Group