Breathing clean air is so important to our health. It’s good for wellbeing, for exercise and - the obvious bit - staying alive!
Residents may be aware that the Hockerill Lights in Bishop’s Stortford is one of the worst areas in the country for photochemical smog. The tall buildings, heavy traffic and incline are a recipe for poor air quality. Considering the number of schoolchildren and other pedestrians who cross here each day, I am keen to explore options to improve the situation.
That’s why I invited district councillors Diane Hollebon and David Snowdon to visit the site with me alongside Richard Roberts, the Leader of Hertfordshire County Council. The Council was recently awarded £132,000 as part of the Government’s Air Quality Grant so I am keen to see us receive our fair share of this.
One idea to improve air quality at the site would be to construct a green wall, a vertical structure covered by vegetation. Professor Rob MacKenzie of the University of Birmingham recently produced a paper which suggests that constructing green walls can cause an up-to-30% reduction in pollution, significantly improving air quality.
Air quality is something that cannot be solved overnight. However, things are already moving in the right direction. Since our visit and discussion, Hertfordshire County Council have committed that they will be looking to install a new air quality sensor at the crossroads through their Let’s Clear the Air campaign, funded through a government grant and the Council’s Sustainability Hertfordshire Central Fund. This will provide information to inform residents of the challenge.
Turning to other matters, I was very grateful to have had a video call with the Co-Chair of the Maternity Voices Partnership and a senior midwife at Princess Alexandra Hospital who work to improve the services at the Hospital Trust.
We discussed at length the issue of retaining current midwives. While the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust announced that they were to spend over £1 million on maternity staff and recruit 22 new members of staff to the midwifery team, I was concerned to learn that staff are leaving at a much greater rate than this.
We also discussed the education of those training to be midwives to make sure we can get more staff on wards while making sure they also have the relevant training required. Skills and experience are so important in healthcare and particularly in midwifery.
I really value the work that local midwives do. I am a mother myself, so I know what it is like to experience the invaluable care they provide for those about to go through the greatest thing of all.
That’s why I have written to the Health and Social Care Secretary on this and await his response. I want to make sure that we can provide the resources required for our midwives to deliver.