Zack Polanski, the Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England & Wales has been confirmed as the fifth speaker at the Northern Air Quality Conference in Manchester on 25th March.
Zack is also a London Assembly Member and has chaired London’s Environment Committee for the last two years.
He successfully proposed a motion at the London Assembly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill and represented the Assembly at COP26.
He also convened a cross- party report into air pollution making recommendations to the Mayor – including passing a motion across the Assembly in support of Ella’s Law.
Zack has recently been vocal in his opposition of a possible third runway at Heathrow, challenging London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan to back legal action against it
The Northern Air Quality Conference is not the first such event he will have spoken at. Zack addressed the National Air Quality Conference in London in 2023, making such an impact that we had no hesitation in inviting to Manchester this year.
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Zack joins the four speakers who have already been confirmed:
Jon Burke who is Gloucester City Council Climate Change and Decarbonisation Lead and holds advisory roles with Climate Emergency U.K and Create Streets.
As Councillor for the London Borough of Hackney, Jop delivered the largest urban tree planting programme in the UK, the UK’s largest number of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and School Streets, adopted the WHO’s guidelines for particulate matter pollution, and delivered the UK’s first local authority green screen technical specification for deployment at pollution hotspots.
Professor Greg Marsden, Professor of Transport Governance at the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds.
Greg has researched issues surrounding the design and implementation of new policies for over 20 years. He is an expert in climate and energy policy in the transport sector and the governance of smart mobility. He leads the Place theme in the national Energy Demand Research Centre and is Director of the INFUZE project which is exploring post car-ownership futures.
Katie Williams is the Delivery Manager for the Air Quality and Aerosol Metrology Group at the National Physical Laboratory. Katie is currently responsible for managing two large Air Quality network contracts for Defra and the Environment Agency – the UK Heavy Metals Network and the UK Particle Counting and Numbers & Black Carbon Network.
In 2024, Katie and the NPL AQ Networks team won the Royal Society of Chemistry Technical Excellence Prize, for outstanding application of knowledge and teamwork to produce 20 years of robust, high-quality air pollutant data for three of the UK’s air quality networks, advancing science, informing policy makers, and protecting the health of the public.
Liz Godfrey is the Greater Manchester Coordinator for Mums for Lungs – a grassroots network of volunteers that campaign to raise awareness of the impact that air pollution is having on children’s health. Prior to this role, Liz spent 12 years as a Primary School Teacher, then worked at Global Action Plan undertaking youth engagement projects across the city. She works alongside local partners, schools, community organisations and has established an active volunteer group. She is passionate about prioritising children’s health no matter where they live.