Ipswich climate campaigners stage mock funeral in pollution protest

A sermon was read during the mock funeral at Grafton House

Climate activists have staged a mock funeral of a child to highlight "lives lost" to air pollution.

Members of the group Extinction Rebellion carried a small coffin into Ipswich Borough Council's offices on Thursday.

The box contained 63 face masks, each "representing a life lost directly as a result of pollution" in the town in a year, the group said.

A council spokesman said it was "taking positive action" on air quality.

Members of Extinction Rebellion carried a small coffin into the council offices

The group referred to Public Health England figures released in 2014, listing 63 deaths in Ipswich "associated with particulate air pollution", among a total of 366 across Suffolk.

A "sermon" read inside the Grafton House council building commemorated "these unnecessary deaths" and said more lives were being lost with "each passing month that Ipswich Borough Council fails to act".

The group called on the council to develop "an effective air quality action plan that will deliver clean air by the end of 2020... without any more delay."

The group says there were 63 "unnecessary deaths" to air pollution in Ipswich

A 2016 report by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) also claimed air pollution cut short an estimated 40,000 lives across the country each year, as well as causing six million sick days.

Alastair Ross, portfolio holder for public protection in Ipswich, said the public had a "part to play" by using public transport and not "idling engines" in traffic or near schools.

"The borough council is taking positive action by investing in a new fleet of electric vehicles, providing electric charging points in car parks and aiming to ensure that future development in the town does not impact on air quality," he said.