Objectives
The British Lung Foundation is a British charity focusing on respiratory health.
The Foundation, working with Censuswide, wanted to research air pollution to gauge Scots’ opinions and attitudes towards air quality policies in towns and cities. The intention was to both uncover opinions and raise awareness, as well as finding use for the survey’s insights, trends, and information to urge that politicians support robust new proposals to improve air quality and respiratory health.
Approach and methodology
Censuswide polled 1,000 general Scottish respondents with 5 questions. The data was split by Scottish Parliament regions in order to give the client data for lobbying MSPs.
Outcomes
The research found that 75% of Scots would support a ban on cars around school gates to give children the chance to breathe clean air. Additionally, the research found that two thirds of Scots supported the introduction of the Low Emission Zone (LEZs) for their local area to coincide with the publication of new proposals for a LEZ in the centre of Edinburgh.
The British Lung Foundation was able to use the research to lobby and put pressure on Aberdeen and Dundee City Councils to publish their proposals on LEZs.
The research featured widely in local and regional media. Notably, the campaign achieved front page coverage in the Scottish edition of The Times in support of the paper’s new Clean Air for All campaign. Both The Scotsman and the Edinburgh Evening News featured the research alongside publication proposals for a LEZ in Edinburgh.
Finally, the British Lung Foundation also landed significant coverage in the Aberdeen Press and Journal and the Dundee Evening Telegraph.
