Greater Manchester Mayoral Election 2024
Our volunteers hand-printed babygros with the message ‘Clean Air Now’, then hung them on a washing line in St Peter’s Square to highlight the high levels of air pollution in Greater Manchester.
Image credit: Rebecca Lupton Photography
Residents in Greater Manchester head to the polls to elect their next Mayor on 2nd May 2024. As part of a coalition of groups that includes Clean Cities Campaign, Walk Ride GM, Manchester Friends of the Earth, Sustrans, Living Streets and Asthma and Lung UK, we are calling on Greater Manchester’s Mayoral candidates to commit to sustained action to clean up the air we breathe.
Greater Manchester’s Dirty Secret
New polling from IPSOS, commissioned by the Clean Cities Campaign, found that 64 per cent of British adults think London is the UK city with the highest average annual concentration of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) compared to just 5 per cent who think it’s Manchester.
In fact Defra data shows that in 2022 Greater Manchester had higher annual mean levels of NO2 than Greater London, at 54μg/m3 versus 45μg/m3 respectively. The UK legal limit is 40μg/m3 and the latest World Health Organization guideline is 10μg/m3.
With the number of children being hospitalised in Manchester for respiratory conditions nearly doubling in the last two years, our coalition seeks to highlight the dirty secret of Greater Manchester’s very high air pollution levels.
What do we want?
We’re asking the Greater Manchester Mayoral candidates to commit to:
A pathway of actions to reach the 2021 World Health Organization guideline limits for healthy air with clear interim targets and timescales.
Increasing the percentage of primary schools with a permanent school street to 25% within 5 years.
Taking action to reduce wood burning.
You can find an easy template letter here to email the candidates asking them to take action on air pollution if elected.
Our asks in more detail:
1. A pathway of actions to reach the 2021 World Health Organization guideline limits for healthy air with clear interim targets and timescales.
Based on thousands of scientific studies, in 2021 the WHO significantly reduced its air quality recommendations and clarified that while any level of air pollution is unhealthy, NO2 should not exceed 10μg/m3 as an annual mean, and PM2.5 should not exceed 5μg/m3.
In one of the richest countries of the world, nobody should be forced to breathe toxic air and we urge Greater Manchester’s next Mayor to outline a pathway towards this level of air pollution locally, with clear interim targets that ensure accountability.
2. Increasing the percentage of primary schools with a permanent school street to 25% within 5 years.
All children deserve a healthy and safe start to the day. School Streets are proven to reduce traffic and increase safety; not only that but travelling actively to school has been shown to improve learning outcomes.
We want the Mayor to commit to 25% of all Greater Manchester’s primary schools implementing a School Street over the next five years, with a clear action plan to protect children in main road schools too.
3. Taking action to reduce wood burning.
We want to see Manchester City Council taking leadership on this hugely polluting issue by using all channels available to them to raise awareness of the health impacts of wood burning amongst residents, and jointly, use their lobbying powers with national government to press for effective powers or action.
It is currently very difficult for a local council to tell if someone is burning legally or illegally and then to enforce (low) fixed penalty notices. More powers are needed; in the meantime we are asking Manchester City Council to raise awareness as much as it can, through the use of social media,
council newsletters, flyers, bus stop posters and local magazines.