Clean Air Day petition delivered to Downing Street

On Clean Air Day this year people were asked to sign a petition calling for safer walking, wheeling and cycling, as well as  reliable and affordable public transport. This week, organisers Global Action Plan, delivered that petition to Downing Street.

Needless to say, the idea was formulated before a snap election was announced, so it was propitious that they ended up delivering this call for change to a Prime Minister who had just brought his party to power for the first time in 14 years.

Handing in an important petition today with @EllaRobertaFdn and @globalactplan asking for a Clean Air Act as a priority from the new Government in the Kings Speech. Great to have @EllieChowns and Labour MPs there as well to pile on the pressure. Toxic air kills. pic.twitter.com/FXEgC8MsjI

— Sian Berry (@sianberry) July 10, 2024

Lending support was Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, musician Love Ssega, Sian Berry MP, Stella Creasy MP, Ellie Chowns MP, Afzal Khan MP.

Tessa Bartholomew-Good, Head of Campaigns for Clean Air Programmes at Global Action Plan, explained the thinking behind the petition: ‘Our campaign’s been running for eight years, focused around behaviour change, having people trial different types of clean air behaviours around a theme, so they can imagine what a clean air community could look like. School streets or walking or cycling to work…

‘But we know that it isn’t on the shoulders of individuals to make the kinds of changes we need to see, so we’ve been talking about how to shift from this individual behaviour change to more of a systems change approach. How can we empower people to use their voice and demand the wider changes that we need to see from the government?

‘This year, we had the opportunity to work with Health Equals as a funder. They are a coalition of 27 member organisations that are focused on health inequalities. They were always planning to do a campaign on air pollution, so they decided to fund Clean Air Day. And having their funding really allowed us to push this policy-advocacy-systems change frame, which we’ve been wanting to do for a few years now.’

So it was that the petition came into being, essentially – and without saying it – focussed on getting people to drive less.

‘We tried to make sure that what the petition is calling for is as motivating as possible to the public,’ said Tessa, ‘The insights from our focus group showed that whilst people want greener options to travel, and they want to have their voices heard, they are a bit sceptical of petitions. There’s a lot of petitions out there and people wonder if the government really listens to them. Does it change anything?

‘One of the kind of key insights we found was that following up on what you do with the petition is really important. People feel confident that something’s being done with it.

‘But interestingly, even if people were sceptical, which the majority were, most of them still sign petitions because it feels like the only mass engagement tool that exists, that allows them to have a voice.’

It is not too late to sign the petition.