Using local elections to improve cities’ air quality

If our roads continue to invite polluting cars then evidence shows it is the most marginalised and vulnerable communities who will experience the worst health effects. Those include being exposed to dirty air that causes lifelong conditions and thousands of preventable early deaths in London every year; dangerous roads that kill or seriously injure ten people every day, and damaging inactivity with less than half of children and young people meeting recommended physical activity levels. 

We can’t rely on electric cars to solve the problem. The Mayor of London has stated that, at the very least, we need a 27% reduction in all car kilometres being driven across the capital to meet the target of reaching net zero by 2030. 

What did we do during the London elections?

In our efforts to make change, our campaign went laser focussed on a few solutions to help Londoners get out of their cars. We chose solutions that local councillors have full autonomy over, that wouldn’t break the bank, and could be rolled out over a timescale that would demonstrate councillors can deliver for residents. 

Bike hangers

One solution is residential cycle hangers. 

If we want to help people to jump on a bike and use their car less, we must make it as easy as possible. Forcing people to do the ‘cycle salsa’ at home when scurrying past bikes in their bedroom, balcony or hallway isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s utterly unfair given the abundance of space set aside for cars on our streets. And an effective way of getting the attention of councillors is to point to a social injustice that must be corrected. 

Transport systems must be fair

But we didn’t just highlight the inequity around the use of space on our roads – where a cycle hangar of six bicycles takes up space for one small car – we also exposed the huge disparity in the costs too. 

We showed that Londoners are asked to spend more to park a bicycle in a secure hangar than they are to park polluting cars outside their homes, further embedding car dependency.  

The average cost of renting a space in a cycle hangar in London was found to be £57.90. This means a family of four would spend on average £231.60 a year parking four cycles, which is 4.6 times the average cost of parking a petrol car (£50) and seven times an electric car (£29).  

Progress

Thankfully we have seen some boroughs respond to our campaign, such as the new administration in Ealing who slashed the cost of a cycle hangar space to just over £8 a year.  

Yet, over in Islington, where car ownership is the lowest in London, it’s an eye watering £107 a year. Still lots to do. Cycle parking should never cost more than car parking. Income from car parking, especially polluting vehicles, should be used to fund affordable and secure cycle parking.

I’ve loved the amazing contributions to the campaign, showing an incredible (and quite depressing!) array of awkward spots where people are forced to keep their bikes. And I’m hopeful we will continue because we need to see commitments delivered and other cities stepping up across the UK – our campaign caught the imagination of campaigners across the country and the appetite is certainly there.  

Local elections

Our campaign shows that local elections are an effective way to improve public health. Yes, addressing issues like air pollution and the climate crisis can seem overwhelming, but there are lots of local solutions which have the potential to be scaled up.

The air pollution crisis is affecting cities all over the UK and all over the world. I would encourage air quality champions to use their local elections to campaign for clean air. I feel passionately that if we want to live in a fair and equal society (and if we truly want to address the climate crisis) it must be easier, safer, and cheaper for people to keep a bike than a car.