I write this column on June 17 which is Clean Air Day 2021. As vice chairman of CPRE Rutland, the countryside charity, readers would expect me to be interested in such a subject, writes Ron Simpson.
Indeed, air quality in the county might reasonably be expected to be a key issue addressed in the proposed CPRE ‘Future Rutland’ publication due later in the year. This has been delayed to avoid conflict or confusion with the much publicised current county council ‘Future Rutland Conversation’.
With a number of my Uppingham hats on, however, there are other local reasons why the basic human right of clean air has come to the top of my community agenda. These include the possibility of the emerging Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan adopting air quality policies for the future due to rising concern over the impact on future generations of increased traffic, housing and population. Also, the disturbing revelation by the local water authority that, due to improved measuring techniques, they are now aware that some of their plant may well have been causing a health threatening…
