You may have read on this website or in the September edition of Around Ealing magazine about various ways in which the council and its partners are attempting to guide our children towards active, healthy lifestyles.

This is through encouraging exercise and sport; education on nutrition and food; and even practical lessons in cooking and shopping.

You may have seen the council’s Get Moving campaign as well, which is for people of all ages.

‘Active travel’, as opposed to the passive experience of being a passenger in a car, is another element in all of this.

We know that air pollution contributes to the early deaths of almost 9,500 Londoners every single year. This is why we are encouraging residents to make sustainable travel choices: Cycling, walking, or using public transport. It will ultimately save lives because air pollution is a huge problem.

For years the council has been working in our schools to encourage active travel and the annual Walk to School Month activities in October are part of it. You can read about a competition we ran in our schools recently and which resulted in a terrific bookmark design to encourage pupils to walk, cycle or scoot to and from home.

Now, the council has agreed a new transport strategy that will build on what we have done before and will put healthy lifestyles and air quality at the heart of everything we do when it comes to the borough’s transport in general. You will be able to read a bit more about this in the October edition of Around Ealing magazine.

If more people are enabled to take an active option, it is not just good for their own health, it is good for all of us.

Air quality text alerts

Ealing Council is part of the airText consortium that provides a free text message service to alert residents of periods of high air pollution, particularly those who may be most at risk. You can register for the service on the airText website.