Letters have been sent out to a cross-section of Wandsworth residents to join the new Citizen’s Assembly on air quality.
Wandsworth has pledged to review its Air Quality Action Plan and will set ambitious new targets to clean up the borough’s air.
It has set up the Citizen’s Assembly in order to hear the views of local people. A group of randomly selected residents will meet to learn more from experts, discuss what can be done to improve air quality and make recommendations to the council.
The process will be led by a team of independent facilitators with expertise in convening a Citizens’ Assembly from the social enterprise and community interest company Shared Future.
Letters have been sent to a cross section of local people. Anyone who receives a letter and is interested in joining should let the council know by the end of this month using the contact details on the letter. A representative mix of around 50 people who are interested will then be chosen to reflect local diversity.
They will attend for four sessions and will be paid a fee. Towards the end of the sessions they will reflect on what they have learnt and discussed and will write a series of recommendations and priorities.
Cabinet member for the environment Judi Gasser said: “Cleaning up the borough’s air is a top priority for us, and we want to ensure Wandsworth residents have a chance to shape the action we take. We all know pollution is harmful to our health and the wellbeing of our communities. Now we need to come together and come up with a robust, shared plan to do something about it.”
There will also be an opportunity for other residents to share their views with the Assembly before they come up with their recommendations. Details on how to do this will be given in due course.