Leeds to be part of the first ever National Clean Air Day in 2017

Leeds, together with five other cities will celebrate the first ever National Clean Air Day (NCAD) on 15 June 2017.

Co-ordinated by environmental change charity, Global Action Plan, and funded by Defra, the day will see local schools, hospitals and communities across Leeds, Birmingham, Derby, Manchester, Southampton and Nottingham run events and raise awareness about air quality and health impacts in the respective cities.

Across the UK’s city centres, air pollution is having a major impact on our health, with dirty air contributing to 40,000 deaths every year in the UK. Many of the UK’s cities exceed the safe and legal limits for air pollution, which is mainly caused by road transport.

The launch of the clean air day will give every school, hospital, workplace and housing estate free access to cutting-edge advice on avoiding and tackling urban air pollution, sourced from health experts and academics.

Events are already being planned in Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Southampton; while all UK cities, including London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, will benefit from the free guides and toolkits available.

Deputy leader of Leeds City Council and executive member for environment and sustainability Councillor Lucinda Yeadon said;

“We are very pleased that funding has been approved by Defra for a National Clean Air Day later this year and we will be making the most of this event, alongside other activities to really drive awareness of what we can do as a city to improve air quality.

 “Leeds along with the other five cities behind this campaign, have worked hard with Global Action Plan to ensure this campaign gets the funding that is needed for it to go ahead.

“Air quality is a very important issue in Leeds, and we want to make sure it is a priority every day of the year. Therefore it is key we continue to work hard to look at all potential avenues to reduce pollution in the city, with the clean air day giving us a real platform both locally and nationally to work together to tackle this.”

Chris Large, Partner at Global Action Plan, said:

‘We know that people do want to act on air pollution. But currently, they don’t know how to protect themselves and their children, or how to cut air pollution in their local area. 15^th June will be a day of practical action, myth-busting and awareness-raising, so we can all breathe cleaner air.

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About National Clean Air Day – “if you act today, we’ll all benefit today”

National Clean Air Day will enable people to act on air pollution, making UK cities cleaner, healthier and greener for us all - especially children. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, and action to protect them will be a particular focus on the day.

The day is supported by over 50 health institutions, councils and universities, including the Royal College of Physicians, the British Lung Foundation, and various NHS Trusts. With DEFRA funding awarded from the Air Quality Grant Scheme 2016-17 Global Action Plan is coordinating events with councils in a network of cities including Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Greater Manchester, Nottingham and Southampton.

About Global Action Plan

Global Action Plan brings people together and inspires them to take practical environmental action. We collect the impact of their actions and share their stories, so more people are inspired to change. We deliver national and global programmes, through a network of local delivery teams in over 24 countries, from The United States, UK to Hungary.

Our UK programmes have directly engaged over 400,000 people. We work with many kinds of organisation, from leading FTSE100 multi-national companies, to local schools and community bodies.

All revenue from GAP's work with business goes straight back into our free programmes for schools, youth and community. We believe that environmental sustainability is an issue for everyone - and all parts of society should be addressing it.