The leader of the Green Party joined the fight for cleaner air in Norwich.
Natalie Bennett travelled from a migrant camp in Calais to Norfolk yesterday, to ask shoppers to sign a petition championing lower emissions from the city's buses.
She said that although in some places private cars are a significant part of the problem, it was clear that buses were the issue in Norwich.
'Just because you can't see it people haven't acknowledged the problem in the past. Now, it is time to take action and there are costs to working on buses but if not it costs people's lives.'
The petition was launched after tests have revealed hot spots of nitrogen dioxide in some of the city centre's most popular areas, including Castle Meadow, St Stephen's, King Street, Riverside Road and Bull Close Road.
More than 1,000 people had already signed the clean bus petition prior to her visit since November 2015.
The Green Party will hand in the petition to the Norfolk County Council's Environment, Transport and Development Committee in the next few weeks.
Simeon Jackson, Green Party city councillor for Mancroft Ward, added: 'Along with that, the Green councillors are coming up with recommendations on how to tackle bus pollution in Norwich.
'Since air quality is something that affects all users of an area, I think the county council has a responsibility to regulate the buses that use Castle Meadow and other high pollution areas of the city, to bring pollutant levels back within legal limits.'
The recommendations would include seeing major progress on upgrading buses to safe emission levels within five years.
After spending an afternoon with Green Party members and the public, Natalie Bennett gave a talk at the University of East Anglia (UEA).
The event was hosted by the UEA Young Greens.
Hundreds of students listened to her talk about the topic of creating a sustainable economy, followed by a question and answer session.
- To sign the petition online, visit https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/petition-for-clean-green-buses-and-clean-air
- If you have a news story, email jemma.walker@archant.co.uk
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