Earlier this year, Ealing Council launched an Air Quality Action Plan to tackle pollution across the borough and asked local people to get involved in shaping it. Now you are being given a final say in how it is taken forward in the future.

The survey runs until 30 January and asks everyone living, working and travelling in the borough for their views on how to make the council’s strategy even stronger. You can go online to complete the questions, which should only take a few minutes.

The council has made it a top priority to improve air quality and fight the choking pollution in the capital that is adding to the climate crisis, and to health problems for residents.

Councillor Deirdre Costigan, the council’s cabinet member for climate action explained: “Tragically, 165 people in Ealing died prematurely last year due to air pollution, which means cutting harmful emissions and tackling dirty air is one of the council’s very highest priorities.

“We have been taking the strongest possible action through our Air Quality Action Plan, which is now well underway – but we cannot do it alone, and the action we take as a council has to work for residents.

“We consulted you earlier this year and we used what you said to develop our new Air Quality Strategy. Now we’re putting the strategy out for one last check by you, to make sure our plans truly work for local people.

“Your voice can make a difference in shaping our work to avoid deaths from harmful emissions in the future.”

Action on air quality 

School streets: The council’s School Streets programme is making it easier and safer for children to travel to and from school by bike, scooter or on foot. By the new year, almost 8,000 pupils at 17 schools will benefit from the schemes. More should be ready by next spring and there could be a total of 50 by 2026.

Air quality in schools: £240,000 has been secured to install air quality monitoring devices in schools, which use live data to keep an eye on harmful pollution and educational to highlight how positive actions such as walking, cycling and scooting on the school run can result in cleaner air.

Anti-idling: The council is continuing to back the London-wide campaign Engines Off for Every Stop. The campaign is touring schools in the borough to spread the message about how switching off car engines when making even a small stop around the school gates can make a difference to local air quality.

Bike hangars: A huge expansion of bike hangars for secure, easy and cheap cycle storage is taking place across the borough. The council is committing £1million into slashing waiting lists for access to the hangars and will deliver at least 150 by 2026. Costs to store a bike have been cut from £6 to just 70p per month – the cheapest rates in London – and it means storing your bike costs just a fraction of a car parking permit.

Electric vehicles: There are now more than 300 electric vehicle charging points in the borough, with a third of these delivered in the last year alone. There are also plans for up to another 400 over the next twelve months.

20mph speed zone: Since last spring, roads operated by the council across the whole borough have had a 20mph speed limit, following successful trials over the last few years. The limit aims to improve safety for all road users and encourage residents to choose greener modes of travel like cycling and walking.

‘We want to achieve even more’

Councillor Costigan continued: “We have already achieved a great deal in a short amount of time.

“67 air quality monitoring devices have been installed across Ealing. New cycle lanes have been delivered in Greenford and for the next phase of the Uxbridge Road cycle lane, and 17 School Streets are being supported, and four more could be on the way in the new year.

“We have rolled out 130 more electric vehicle charge points since May alone, helping to support people making the switch to an electric car, and we are pushing the government to give us more power to put controls on high polluting industries that are affecting the borough.

“We want to go much further in the future and achieve even more. But we know we need to take local people with us every step of the way.”