WM-Air held an event at The Exchange on Clean Air Day, 15th June, bringing together local and regional stakeholders and fostering networking and exchange of knowledge. It was attended by ~60 external stakeholders from across the West Midlands, including regional and local authority officers and councillors, NHS representatives, public health practitioners, air quality consultants, members of the Clean Air Justice Network and academics from local universities.
Bill Bloss introduced and explored the implications of the new air quality targets and interim measures for the region (with accompanying Briefing Note), generating lots of discussion which continued into the well-attended drinks reception, a key objective of the event. The Air Quality-Lifecourse Assessment Tool (AQ-LAT) was also highlighted by Suzanne Bartington and a new Air Quality-Policy Evaluation Tool (AQ-PET) was introduced by Zongbo Shi and Bowen Liu.
This was the first ‘Community of Practice’-type air quality event for the region and there is a plan to hold them annually going forwards as part of the WM-Air legacy.