Anti-idling project in Thame

Improving our air quality and making Thame a more pleasant place to walk, sit and cycle

Air pollution is the biggest environmental risk to health. A recent report from The Lancet Commission on pollution and health (2017), estimates that within the UK, air pollution is linked to 50,000 deaths each year.

Keeping the engine running while stuck in traffic or waiting to collect someone contributes to an increase of air pollutant levels. Schools, hospitals and bus stops in particular are hotspots, as:

• Idling is more likely to happen at those locations
• They have sensitive age groups, such as children and older people

Cars are being designed to help with reducing idling by automatically switching the engine off in traffic but for those of us who still have a car that doesn’t do this – we need to make it happen ourselves.

What can we do ?

Over 2025-2026 Thame is running an Air Quality project to try to get more people engage and educated about these risks.

This will include the following:

• Build a team to move forward with this project
• Research where idling is a problem
• Test the air quality in idling hot spots
• Run campaigns to raise awareness and educate our local community
• Talk to bus companies

If you could help to support this activity please get in touch!