Last week's Echo article, "Pollution Danger", highlighting the serious air pollution affecting many Southampton schools, colleges and nurseries should make us all sit up and take notice.

What is more important than the health of our children, grandchildren and future generations?

Serious action must be taken as a matter of urgency and the British Lung Foundation is quite right to say that stricter laws are required to limit polluting emissions.

The major source of damaging fine particulate matter is motor vehicles and it makes little difference whether these vehicles are petrol or electric as they both produce fine particulate matter from wear to brakes, tyres and road surfaces.

Restricting road traffic in residential areas and road closures outside schools at drop-off and pick-up times are positive measures but will have minimal effect if the total number of vehicles using the city's highways network is not also reduced.

The problem with these limited restrictions is that they result in an increase in the volume of traffic on the major routes into and across the city and some Southampton schools are extremely close to these busy and polluted roads.

Two such schools are Bitterne Manor Primary, right next to Bitterne Road West and St Denys Primary, right next to St Denys Road, both locations with high levels of particulate matter.

Every journey in the city that is made by motor vehicle contributes to the particulate matter that is harmful to our children (as well as contributing to global warming) and there is, as yet, no technological fix for this.

If we wish for a clean, green city that is fit for our children to grow up in, there is no alternative but for more journeys to be made using genuinely low/zero-emissions modes of transport: public transport, e-bikes and scooters, walking and cycling.

The most benefit will come from increased walking and cycling because these also provide much needed exercise leading to healthier, fitter residents and reduced demand on the NHS.

Lindsi Bluemel

Southampton