I AM launching a campaign about local air quality.

This is partly driven by my own experience – I am a mild asthmatic – but recently campaigns have been launched locally about the air quality around our schools and it is a feature of local planning applications.

So, I feel the time is right to to raise the prominence of the issue.

Air pollution is defined as the number of harmful particulates and biological molecules that wouldn't normally be there.

They include all sorts or horrible stuff: carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and fine particles called particulate matter.

They are linked not just to asthma but also more serious lung disease, heart disease and cancers.

In the UK we estimate they are linked to 40,000 premature deaths a year. Some 14 per cent of childhood asthma, the same percentage as passive smoking, is linked to air pollution. The main source of these pollutants in the UK is cars. More houses means more cars which means this is only set to get worse unless we do something about it. If these are the facts, there is a clear need for us to campaign for better air quality for all.

So what can we do? As an individual, the best thing we can all do is try to get out of our cars. Air pollution decreases exponentially with the distance away you are from the source (the cars). By cycling at the edge of the road or walking on the pavement, you are experiencing a fraction of the air pollution you would experience in the middle of the road, in your car. This is much, much worse when in traffic. Now, this is somewhat counterintuitive. I am sure many of us feel protected in the car with the air conditioning on. But that air gets in. So there is a strong case for why getting out of the car itself is better for you, before any health benefits of the physics exercise. And this is a virtuous cycle. As the fewer people in cars, the better the traffic moves, the less chance of standstill traffic which is by far the worst offender.

As policy makers, this sets us a challenge. We need to make ditching the car much easier. I am a vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Cycling: we are concerned that the amount of money spent on cycling per head is decreasing. Locally, potholes are seen as a ‘nice to fix’ with limited money, yet if we don’t maintain pavements, and have safe cycle routes, people won’t use them. And buses routes are being cut left, right and centre too. We need to get ambitious about this.

So I invite you to get involved and help us all secure better air quality. What stops you from ditching the car? What would help? I’d love you to let me know what you think and I’m confident that together we can make a real difference for our communities.