Clean air for Camberwell

The Issue

We call on the Mayor of London and Transport for London to  replace buses on all routes passing through Camberwell Green with hybrid, hydrogen or electric buses by 2018.

Southwark Green Party's recent monitoring of nitrogen dioxide pollution around Camberwell Green has shown that annual levels at the bus stops outside Butterfly Walk/McDonalds on Denmark Hill are more than twice the legal EU limit. The monitor outside McDonalds measured 84 micrograms per cubic metre, while the legal EU limit is 40.

Camberwell Green is a busy high street and major bus interchange, with 15 bus routes and hundreds of people waiting there at all hours of the day. Among those exposed to these extremely high levels of pollution are the most vulnerable members of our community: young children, older people and patients attending appointments at King’s College Hospital, including pregnant women and people with pre-existing respiratory and heart conditions.

Of the 20 nitrogen dioxide monitors installed by Southwark Green Party around the borough, only two were below the EU limit. The 11 monitors placed outside shops, cafés and schools around the Camberwell Green junction  were all far above the EU limit. This new evidence suggests that shopping or changing buses at Camberwell Green is a serious and acute health hazard, with a huge cumulative impact on the health of local residents.

We welcome the Mayor’s proposal to introduce 12 Low Emission Bus Zones. One of these zones is identified as ‘Camberwell to New Cross’, but these zones will not be completed until 2020. The Mayor’s proposal also only deals with buses on one axis of this polluted junction. We want to see buses on the routes from Elephant and Castle to Brixton and Dulwich cleaned up too. This would make  the highly polluted corridors of Walworth Road, Camberwell New Road, Peckham Road and Coldharbour Lane healthier places to live.

Camberwell residents cannot wait until 2020 for action. A child born at King’s College Hospital and growing up in Camberwell today is exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution, putting them at risk of asthma, allergies, cognitive and behavioural problems and stunted lung development, leading to lifelong health problems.

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Southwark Green PartyPetition Starter
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This petition had 866 supporters

The Issue

We call on the Mayor of London and Transport for London to  replace buses on all routes passing through Camberwell Green with hybrid, hydrogen or electric buses by 2018.

Southwark Green Party's recent monitoring of nitrogen dioxide pollution around Camberwell Green has shown that annual levels at the bus stops outside Butterfly Walk/McDonalds on Denmark Hill are more than twice the legal EU limit. The monitor outside McDonalds measured 84 micrograms per cubic metre, while the legal EU limit is 40.

Camberwell Green is a busy high street and major bus interchange, with 15 bus routes and hundreds of people waiting there at all hours of the day. Among those exposed to these extremely high levels of pollution are the most vulnerable members of our community: young children, older people and patients attending appointments at King’s College Hospital, including pregnant women and people with pre-existing respiratory and heart conditions.

Of the 20 nitrogen dioxide monitors installed by Southwark Green Party around the borough, only two were below the EU limit. The 11 monitors placed outside shops, cafés and schools around the Camberwell Green junction  were all far above the EU limit. This new evidence suggests that shopping or changing buses at Camberwell Green is a serious and acute health hazard, with a huge cumulative impact on the health of local residents.

We welcome the Mayor’s proposal to introduce 12 Low Emission Bus Zones. One of these zones is identified as ‘Camberwell to New Cross’, but these zones will not be completed until 2020. The Mayor’s proposal also only deals with buses on one axis of this polluted junction. We want to see buses on the routes from Elephant and Castle to Brixton and Dulwich cleaned up too. This would make  the highly polluted corridors of Walworth Road, Camberwell New Road, Peckham Road and Coldharbour Lane healthier places to live.

Camberwell residents cannot wait until 2020 for action. A child born at King’s College Hospital and growing up in Camberwell today is exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution, putting them at risk of asthma, allergies, cognitive and behavioural problems and stunted lung development, leading to lifelong health problems.

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Southwark Green PartyPetition Starter
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The Decision Makers

Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London
Responded
“Dear Petitioner Thank you for the petition submitted on the change.org website calling for all buses passing through Camberwell Green to be replaced with hybrid diesel electric, hydrogen fuel-cell or pure electric buses by 2018. The Mayor has asked Transport for London (TfL) to introduce the cleanest buses as fast as possible due to concerns over air quality and poor health relating to diesel exhaust emissions. The whole of the capital, including the area in your petition, will benefit. The first stage will see the whole bus fleet improved to the Euro VI engine emission standard or better by 2020. This engine and its ultra-clean exhaust system cuts oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter by up to 95 and 80 per cent respectively and will provide an interim way of cutting harmful emissions quickly. The Mayor is introducing zero-emission buses to London as fast as the technology allows and is encouraging pure electric vehicle manufacturers to reduce unit costs and switch to larger scale production. TfL is also running hydrogen fuel-cell buses on route RV1 between Covent Garden and Tower Gateway to understand the contribution this zero-emission technology can play and is tapping into external funds to triple the number of these vehicles as quickly as possible. The Mayor has signalled London’s support for this transformation of its fleet by asking TfL to only purchase hybrid diesel-electric or zero-emission buses from 2018. We already have 2,500 hybrids and this total will constantly grow as new buses are introduced. All double-deck buses passing through the proposed Ultra-Low Emission Zone will need to be a minimum of Euro VI a year early in 2019 instead of 2020. The cleaner performance of these buses will bring wider clean air benefits to London as a whole. In some areas, Low Emission Bus Zones are being created to accelerate this process. There will be 12 in the capital between now and 2020. The Camberwell to New Cross area (covering Blackheath Road via Camberwell Green and Peckham High Street to Wood Green) is one of these. The Mayor would like to see an even faster switch to zero-emission to tackle the air quality issues you mention. He has worked with industries to show that companies running buses in London could move more quickly to his goal of zero-emission vehicles if such buses were produced more cheaply, in greater numbers, with improved performance. While he is driving this agenda forward as aggressively as possible for all neighbourhoods, this doesn’t currently permit the wholesale change you have requested straight away in this part of south London. I hope you will understand the demands balanced across London and appreciate the scale of change being undertaken as rapidly as possible. Yours sincerely, Public Liaison Unit Greater London Authority”
Transport For London
Transport For London

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Petition created on 29 April 2017