The air we breath makes a big difference to our health and wellbeing. In this film, Jay Singh-Sohal, a Conservative Environment Network (CEN) Ambassador, speaks to Cllr Ken Hawkins who holds the Solihull Council Cabinet brief for the Environment & Infrastructure. They discuss the important of local air quality and the measures being taken to tackle engine idling and pollution.
For more information about CEN visit: www.cen.uk.com/
For more about Jay Singh-Sohal visit: www.jaysinghsohal.uk
When it comes to green issues one of the most important things uh to all of us is the air we breathe it’s not often we think about air quality or the fact that it has such an impact on our health and wellbeing but it is something of vital importance to each and every one of us and that’s why I’m out here in live in Sol hul uh speaking to local community members but also catching up with councelor Ken Hawkins who’s the Solihull Borough Council Cabinet member for the Environment and infrastructure. And Ken you’ve brought me here to talk about uh air pollution air quality uh this is a a wonderful Community setting as you can see it’s quite busy but it’s right next to a school so tell us how have you been working to ensure that uh the air quality uh is good and that air pollution around here has been addressed well one of the big things we uh we do in relation to the whole B is our school streets parking uh we’re the first uh Council in England to adopt a uh uh a regim where some schools you can’t go into their access road unless you have a permit uh to school hours uh that’s been successfully rolled out and uh it’s been so so welcome it’s it’s not only protects children at the school gate from cars but also from their fumes um and here as well we have this big sign here from mons Junior School where have been a cenet for years U it’s a process where we we try to get that message across we’ll have all the posters on the on the trees outside uh stop idling that’s not just the summer but the winter where people come early to park and they get their the cars are idling it doesn’t matter whether the electric or or or petrol diesel yeah their fumes are are inited and that’s and that is a problem for the pups um so that’s that’s something which uh which this school does extremely well a school with 650 PWS a lot of them from outside the cment area so the the focus on on vehicles to get them to school is is is a big issue uh and so it’s not just this big car far but also the the neighboring roads and and reinforcing that message that iding of cars causes uh causes fumes exactly and it’s something that people might not necessarily realize as you described there that you know leaving the engine running uh when you’re not moving is putting out unnecessarily pollutants into the air it’s an issue that I I worked with uh many years ago with Westminster uh city council and and impacting people’s behaviors and changing their behaviors when it comes to this how have you found people’s response and reactions to your campaigns here when it comes to engine idling are they fairly receptive to it they they are and and of course and I think we we’re saying we we all need reminding now and again to not to do this you know it’s that when we do ride up somewhere you know let’s just turn the engine off it’s uh uh it’s got to save your money as well uh in the uh both in the short and long run but it’s it’s getting those me messages across uh to remind people that this is what we are doing not just the council but we as a community are signed up to yeah and and the other part of that and certainly within your brief at Sol Hall council is active travel so you know where we are today here in RVE water you’ve got a school as you’ve described you’ve got a busy road uh we’re coming up to on this lovely Woodland area how do you ensure that people are also undertaking active travel so they’re getting away from their vehicles uh walking if they can and taking up public transport a school like this means it does mean that a lot of pupils would need to have some sort of transport to to get their car and people can car Shell at all or even things like you know there’s a there’s a park just nearby park there big car par there you haven’t got the hassle of this main car par and walk half a mile to school and U and all the fur further away as well part further away walk to school Andy thing you know the the school has cycle Bays uh uh people places where uh bikes and scooters can be stored safely um uh and also it’s one of the schools that um that takes part in our uh in our viability uh and again as a as a council I think we’re the second or third in the country in relation to the number of pupils each year that take our bability i s like 80% so 80% of all people um uh take part in the bability training um so that is something that you we’re very proud of um encouraging people to walk cycle school where we can now earlier on when we were speaking you were telling me about trees the importance of trees which you know seems like a no-brainer uh but tell us um you know about the approach that you’ve taken towards uh trees and Greening generally well the trees it’s we we signed up well not signed up is initiative a few years ago uh to in in 10 years to to plant quarter of million trees now some of them are saplings many of them are actually substantial trees um uh and and we’re well on course to do that we’ve uh we’ve already planted 100,000 trees and you would have gone to Hope copies and see some of our and investment there because that could have easily been housing Housing Development but but uh but we took the decision we took the decision to Tak it out the uh the draft plan excuse me use that as a as a copies a copies for out plant trees but also as a place for remembrance certainly not just of Co but CO as well right and then but also what we are doing in we see evence here further up there we’re taking down some trees that are in place here that are are are putting our our n trees uh native trees at risk so um so we’re um it’s okay you can come through yeah as you can see it’s kind of busy Walk Way hi there so we’re um yeah we’re taking away uh trees that are are diseased or creating a problem overhanging certain places yeah or they are or they are the growth of nature trees which you want to protect right we’re next to a busy road um part of your brief is infastructure as well yeah um tell us about how with the environmental brief you’ve been able to to to address those issues based caused by by heavy bluten and traffic as well well you see certainly uh our our agenda is to establish more and more um uh electric charging points toout the B uh with uh don’t know those stickness to hand but we are we have got hundreds and hundreds of them uh so that helps in that respect uh and it’s our our housing agenda I know that’s um the development further along in my ward um that each each house is going to be built it’s going to have um it’s going to have charging Point already in and then you work with our our our Highway Contracting partners of B for Bey living places who are always looking at uh in inative ways to um to ensure that their materials uh are sustainable you know they they they they reuse materials they they procure them from closer to home um and and also they’re looking at materials that outside the box um I saw a report recently we they using um on L Tires to help supplement might need the TAC to to to help that help that tarm uh be placed for longer so get better value out of it it’s fantastic to see Sol Hall Metropolitan burough Council leading the way and innovating as well when it comes to environmental issues and certainly within the conservative environment Network there’s a lot we can learn from uh local uh policy makers and decision makers as well um in your experience uh if colleagues across the conservative family are watching this what would you say is the most important thing when it comes to uh addressing some of those environmental issues and concerns that could be quite bespoken local to to to different areas U and what’s the best way forward would you say uh from the learning you’ve taken here from Sol I think we need to um we need to live the ideal it’s it’s not just something that’s just off the shelf for an election it’s not this is this is been part of our bread and water uh for quite a long time and it will be moving forward uh look a lot of things if we’re going to do it do properly yeah yes some of these things cost money uh so we have to look at other ways how we can resource this sort of thing but it’s um it it’s it’s making a difference and that’s what we must do make a difference and uh and plan for the future whether it’s uh whether it’s Road Road networks uh whether it’s uh it’s Parts in green spaces but we need to we need to think not just for here and now we got to think next 10 years 20 years 50 years that’s a very positive and pragmatic message to be leaving our viewers with um final thoughts if you’d like to find out more about the conservative environment network have a look at the link to the website on this post thank you