UPDATE: |’It’s like having a belt around your chest – it’s like a slow suffocation’ News

For some people, it is ‘almost impossible’ to visit the city centre

For months, motorists have complained of ‘jam packed’ roads in Manchester city centre with much of the ire directed at Deansgate.

But for some people, even just walking through town can be a real struggle. Dave Lawson, 41, who lives in Rochdale, is among them.

Having suffered with bronchiectasis since the age of three, he says it’s now ‘almost impossible’ for him to visit the city centre now.

“Manchester is becoming a mini London,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “Over the last decade, it’s amazing how much more congested it is.

“Deansgate then and Deansgate now is a totally different world. As soon as you turn from Cathedral Street down onto Deansgate, there’s a heavy air.

“Even if I walk to Great Northern, it can sometimes require a couple of sit downs on the way, or I try and find the back road. It’s a bit like if you had a belt around your chest. It’s like a slow suffocation.”

Last month, Dave was due to attend an exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery highlighting the suffering caused by ‘toxic air’.

The exhibition featured ten striking portraits of people whose lives have been severely affected by air pollution, including Dave.

But due to his condition, Dave was suffering from a chest infection at the time and could not attend the ‘powerful’ event.

“In the winter time I have to be very, very careful,” he explains. “I’m on red alert in the winter. In the summer it’s the heat.

“On a hot day, it’s like if you’re stuck on a pavement and a bus comes along and you feel the heat and fumes coming off it.

“That’s what it feels like the rest of the time for me. It’s hot and heavy.”

Maksim Mironovas, 15, who lives in Ancoats and suffers with asthma, has spent much of his childhood campaigning for cleaner air.

Although his asthma is not as bad as it was when he was younger, he still finds it harder to breathe when he walks along busy roads.

“When I’m walking down Great Ancoats Street, I can’t breathe as deep, my breathing is much more shallow. I do feel the difference.

“I try to avoid it when I can. But I do have to take that road sometimes when I want to go home quickly.”

Maksim’s portrait, taken by photographer Chris O’Donovan, also features in the ‘Our Manchester, Our Air: Creating a Breathable City’.

Speaking to the M.E.N. after the event, he said that children, whose lungs are often most vulnerable to pollution, are ‘not listened to’.

“We should stop thinking about ourselves and think about the future generations. What they’ll be growing into, what Manchester they will see.”

Like Maksim, Dave was ‘disappointed’ about the Clean Air Zone saga in Greater Manchester that came to a conclusion earlier this year.

He describes the original plan to introduce daily fees for drivers of the dirtiest vehicles across a 493 sq-mile zone as ‘ill-thought out’.

It follows a three-year row over the previous scheme which would have hit vans, taxis, buses and lorries that don’t meet emission standards with a fee of up to £60 a day but was put on hold in 2022 after a huge public backlash months before it was due to start.

Local leaders now argue that they can clean up the air, bringing nitrogen dioxide (NO2) below legal limits, without financial penalties.

The government has now approved the ‘investment-led’ plans, including £51m for cleaner buses, £5m for ‘local traffic management measures’ and £8m to clean up the taxi fleet with local transport bosses promising this will cut pollution quicker than charges would.

“The fact that they didn’t follow through is disappointing,” Maksim says.

“People in poorer conditions can’t afford an electric car, but if we were to improve the public transport, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“I would never say to anyone you should never drive again,” Dave adds. “I’ve got a car myself.

“But just take a second to think, ‘do you really need to take the car today?’ Try a different route.”

Greater Manchester’s transport bosses say that NO2 levels are falling in the city-region, arguing that this is being driven by investment in the Bee Network – the new London-style public transport network.

The latest figures show that 64 places in Greater Manchester still have illegal levels of NO2 with the pollution rising in some areas, but this is down from 129 locations in exceedance five years ago.

But according to Asthma + Lung UK, Manchester and Salford still have some of the highest levels of emergency admissions and deaths linked to lung conditions in the UK.

Citing official data, the charity says that Greater Manchester’s air pollution is linked to 1,200 early deaths every year with the region holding the record for the highest NO2 pollution levels in the UK, exceeding London.

Jonathan Blades, Head of Policy at Asthma + Lung UK, said: “Air pollution is a national emergency that demands swift action.

“People like Dave and Maksim shouldn’t have to worry about the air they breathe.

“This exhibition is a wake-up call to our policymakers. It is time for them to stop ignoring the problem and take decisive action.

“We need stronger policies, stricter regulations, and better protections for communities that are suffering from poor air quality.

“The longer we wait, the more lives will be lost, and the more children will grow up facing lifelong health challenges. This lack of ambition has dangerous implications.

“Air pollution is the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK today, and the consequences of breathing toxic air can be severe.

“This is about building a future where everyone can breathe easy, regardless of where they live.”

Labour councillor Tracey Rawlins, who is the executive member for Clean Air, Environment and Transport at Manchester City Council, said: “As a Council we are entirely committed to putting measures in place to improve air quality throughout our city.

“An investment-led approach to tackling this problem is in place and we are determined to play our part alongside TfGM and our colleagues across Greater Manchester to deliver over the coming years.”

A Clean Air Greater Manchester spokesperson said: “We know that poor air quality impacts people’s lives, especially those with underlying health conditions.

“That is why cleaning up the air that we breathe is a priority for Greater Manchester, and Government is backing our investment-led, non-charging Clean Air Plan that will improve air quality without harming livelihoods, jobs and businesses, while meeting legal limits in the shortest possible time.

“The latest data shows that air pollution is overall falling in Greater Manchester, and this is being driven by investment in the Bee Network and the transition to cleaner vehicles across the region, which will be further supported by the measures set out in the GM Clean Air Plan.”