70th Anniversary of the Great Smog

Zack Polanski AM moved, and Léonie Cooper AM seconded the following motion:

“This Assembly notes that it is now seventy years since the Great Smog affected London in December 1952.
 
This Assembly notes that the then London County Council (LCC) recorded unprecedented concentrations of smoke between the 5th and 8th of December that year, and further that the LCC produced a report by January of 1953 detailing the tragic impact of this peak in air pollution which it was already realised had killed thousands of Londoners.
 
This Assembly notes that despite that report, the Government initially doubted the need for further action. Over time estimates of thousands of deaths of Londoners prompted the development of a private members bill that led to the first Clean Air Act of 1956.
 
This Assembly notes that now, seventy years later, a new private members bill, the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill has been introduced in the House of Lords and is due for debate in the House of Commons.
 
This Assembly notes that this bill is also being called Ella’s Law in memory of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who had air pollution acknowledged as the cause of her death after a long and successful campaign by her mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah.
 
This Assembly commits to supporting Ella’s Law to establish the right to clean air for Londoners and therefore urges MPs and Lords at Westminster to support this bill.
 
This Assembly also calls on the Mayor of London to do more to improve air quality across London, starting by:

• Urgently addressing his 2016 tree planting target and setting out realistic metrics to achieve this; and 
• Reviewing the zero emission bus fleet target with the view of making it more ambitious in light of the recent funding deal from the Government.”

Following debate and upon being put to a vote, the motion was agreed unanimously.