London Mayor Boris Johnson says he will explore plans to introduce car-free Sundays to central parts of the capital as the Government’s scientific advisers are reportedly set to warn air pollution could now be responsible for as many as 60,000 premature deaths in the UK each year.
Boris Johnson confirmed he will consider plans for a vehicle ban on Sundays while attending a similar event during a Far East trip to the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
Mr Johnson said he was “blown away” by the popularity of the scheme that has now run for more than 15 years and bans vehicles from the streets of Jakarta from 6am every Sunday.
The Mayor said he will ask Transport for London to review shelved plans for the introduction of a one-day vehicle ban to encourage the take-up of sustainable methods of transport like cycling and walking.
He said: “I think it would probably take time to bed in and it would take a few years before people got into the swing of coming out into the streets and making use of the space that a car-free Sunday provided.”
His comments follow reports that the Government is to be advised that the actual death toll for air pollution in the UK is 60,000 – more than double the current official figure of 29,000.
The Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, an official advisory body, is said to warn the existing official count does not factor in the levels of the gas nitrogen dioxide, which is chiefly emitted by diesel engines.
The panel is understood to still be finalising the statistics although any revision of the mortality rate upwards will heap further pressure on policy-makers, who have been accused of dithering and a lack of action on reducing air pollution.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) this month ruled in favour of the basic right to breathe clean air and said the UK Government must do more to protect public health.
The ECJ ruled in favour of pressure group ClientEarth and ordered that the UK must act to clean up illegal levels of air pollution “as soon as possible”. Under current plans the UK will not meet legal limits for nitrogen dioxide until after 2030 – 20 years after the original deadline.
The case will return to the Supreme Court next year for a binding ruling.
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