Air pollution: ban schools and other children’s facilities from hotspots, say campaigners

New schools, nurseries, and playgrounds should not be built in air pollution hotspots, and existing ones should be surrounded by traffic exclusion zones to reduce children’s exposure to pollutants, a new campaign group has said.

The National Clean Air for Children Programme, which launched on 24 October, called for £153m (€173m; $197m) of government funding to help protect children from air pollution. Drawn up by the Clean Air Parents’ Network with support from the environmental law organisation ClientEarth and the British Lung Foundation, it also has the backing of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the National Education Union, and Asthma UK.

The programme wants the air quality …