Clean air protestors hand out fake death certificates at full council meeting at Northampton's Guildhall

Fake death certificates were handed out by clean air protestors at a full council meeting at Northampton’s Guildhall.

1000 Voices Campaigners handed out fake death certificates marked ‘A Northampton Resident’ to West Northamptonshire councillors at the full council meeting on Thursday (February 22).

The group has been putting pressure on West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) to ‘clean up Northampton’s toxic air’ after studies showed Northampton to be among the worst local authorities for poor air quality.

WNC recently launched a consultation on air quality measures. The council says reducing air pollution is “vitally important”, but 1000 Voices says this is “more words, no action”.

A spokesperson for 1000 Voices said: “WNC have at their disposal all the cumulative knowledge of other Local Authorities that have made a success of tackling air pollution where they live. Instead of kicking the can down the road with yet another public consultation, they should be tapping into this expertise and doing what’s needed to save lives in a way that works for the people of Northampton.

"They’ve had twenty-one years to ask what residents want, this process is more words, no action.”

Campaigners entered the meeting on Thursday through the public gallery. Some councillors refused to take a certificate while others passed them to colleagues down the rows. After the brief protest, the campaigners left without issue to re-join the larger group that had gathered outside the building.

The spokesperson added: “We intend to make this ‘invisible threat’ very visible by bringing together 1000 people in Northampton to call on WNC to act. We can save lives by working together to tackle toxic air.”

The group is appealing to local residents to add their name to the campaign and to join them at peaceful gatherings and community events.

In the air quality consultation launch, leader of the council Jonathan Nunn, said: “Given our bold Net Zero commitments, the Air Quality Action Plan is the first crucial step towards putting measures in place to improve air quality in Northampton, and wider West Northamptonshire.

“As part of the development of the plan, we will be looking at how we can improve air quality as a local authority and how we can support residents in making changes to help achieve these aims.”