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Ninety per cent of Londoners call for action on throw away shopping bags
Over ninety per cent of Londoners who have responded to London Councils' public consultation have called for action to address the environmental impact caused by throw away shopping bags.
The majority of respondents - just under 60 per cent - have also called on London Councils to lobby for a ban on plastic throw away shopping bags in the capital when it deposits the tenth London Local Authorities Bill in Parliament later this month.
The results of the consultation will be considered by London Councils' Leaders' Committee on Tuesday 13 November, where the leaders of London's local authorities will decide the final list of proposals to be included in the Bill.
Welcoming the results of the consultation, Councillor Sean Brennan, Vice-Chair of London Councils said:
"Londoners have clearly signalled that they want action on plastic bags - feeling strongly enough to call for an outright ban. I am sure London's council leaders will listen to their calls before finalising the proposal in the tenth London Local Authorities Bill."
Further Information
The public consultation on throw away shopping bags ran from Friday 14 September, to Friday 26 October 2007.
1,752 people took part in the online consultation, with another 100 emails and 270 letters received. An extensive list of industry, environmental and government bodies were also contacted directly to take part in the consultation.
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91.5 per cent of respondents to the online consultation said that they supported London Councils proposals to introduce either a levy or an outright ban on throwaway shopping bags in the capital.
Of the proposed options, 58.2 per cent of online respondents called for an outright ban on throwaway shopping bags. The majority of respondents - 64.6 per cent - called for any action only to apply to plastic bags.
A sizeable proportion of those favouring a ban indicated that they would be happy with a levy as a pragmatic way forward.
A brief summary of the consultation results is available in the paper going to London Councils Leaders' Committee, which is available here:
http://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/doc.asp?docId=21183
A more detailed analysis of the comments from the consultation will be released shortly.
For press enquiries please contact: Chris Hogwood on 020 7934 9757
Chris.hogwood@londoncouncils.gov.uk Fax 020 7934 9769
For non-media enquiries contact: London Councils,
59½ Southwark Street, London SE1 0AL Tel 020 7934 9999 www.londoncouncils.gov.uk
