Published on 17th June 2024

Mural of a car with three children and a parent, close to an idling car with the exhaust running. Depicting how vehicle exhaust fumes effect the quality of our air.

This year to mark Clean Air Day – the UK’s largest campaign for cleaner air – the council has teamed up with Cheltenham Paint Festival to bring a brand eco-friendly new mural to the borough.

The mural has been designed and has been brought to life by acclaimed street artist and director of Cheltenham Paint Festival, Andy 'Dice' Davies, ‘Dice67’.

The aim of the mural is to inspire and educate residents and visitors about the importance of clean air, particularly for children, and the effect that vehicle idling has on local air quality.

The impactful design illustrates an idling car together with an attention-grabbing message about the air pollution this causes, stating: ‘an idling engine can produce up to twice the emissions of a car in motion – turn your key, be idle free.’

The mural is located on the corner of Queen Street and Swindon Road, a busy town centre location, specifically chosen to capture the attention of stationary traffic.

Andy Davies, artist and director of Cheltenham Paint Festival, said: “The issue of pollution in our beautiful town is one very close to my heart so when I was asked to help promote clean air, I jumped at the chance.

“Having two children of my own, I was shocked that a car idling can produce that much CO2. I hope that, by painting this mural, I can get people to think about their actions and how can affect children. This special mural will be painted with an advanced Graphenstone paint which absorbs a number of toxins that we’re all exposed to.”

The specialist paint has been donated by ecological paint company Graphenstone. The paint is made from lime paste, which allows it to absorb CO2 as well as other toxins such as Nitrous Oxide (NOx) and Sulphur Oxide (Sox) when it cures, giving an additional environmental aspect to the work.

Hannah Leatherland, air quality education projects officer for Cheltenham Borough Council, said, “We’re delighted to have teamed up with Andy Davies from Cheltenham Paint Festival to bring such this fantastic, impactful and awareness-raising artwork to Cheltenham for all our residents and visitors.

Schools can often be hotspots for idling when parents and carers leave their engines running while waiting to drop off or collect their children on the school run. It’s vital that everyone is aware of the risks and can join us to help improve air quality at the school gates.”

For more information about air quality in Cheltenham, visit www.cheltenham.gov.uk/air-quality.

For media enquiries, contact: communications, telephone 01242 264231, email [email protected]

Notes:
Research has shown that poor air quality affects younger children in particular, as their lungs are smaller and still developing; they are also closer to vehicle exhaust pipes as they are smaller in height and breathe at a faster rate.

Idling refers to leaving engines being left running in stationary vehicles. It is problematic as an idling engine burns fuel less efficiently and can produce up to twice as much exhaust emissions as an engine in motion. Idling also wastes fuel and can increase wear and tear on your engine.
With modern vehicles, the cost of switching off the engine and starting up again after a minute or more will be less than the cost of leaving the engine idling.

This research is from The Institute of Engineering and Technology:
Warming our cars is no idle matter according to new IET research out today (theiet.org)