Wandsworth Citizens’ Assembly on Air Quality
In 2023 Shared Future was involved in designing and facilitating the London Borough of Wandsworth’s Citizen Assembly on Air Quality. The Assembly was the fruition of the new administration’s manifesto pledges to hold a Citizens Assembly, to review its Air Quality Action Plan and to set ambitious new targets to clean up the borough’s air.
The co-leads for this project Jenny Willis and Andy Paice have worked since the start of 2023 with the Council to convene an Oversight Panel (of diverse local air quality stakeholders) that has chosen the framework for the assembly and the question it is tasked with answering:
“How can we all tackle poor air quality across Wandsworth in a way that improves our health and addresses climate change?”
Fifty local residents were recruited through a process of stratified random selection by the Sortition Foundation, successfully representing the diversity of the borough’s population. The Assembly was opened on Saturday 25th February 2023 by Councillor Judi Gasser. The participants have shared their knowledge and experience of air quality issues and have listened to a variety of commentators; such as academics, public health officials, council officers, as well as local campaigners and groups of different perspectives.
All the details of the Assembly sessions, the Oversight Panel and the various commentators that have presented can also be found on Wandsworth Council’s Citizens’ Assembly webpage.
