Government adviser calls for roads in cities to be 'ripped out completely' and replaced with 'green spaces'

A government adviser has called for city roads to be completely ripped out and replaced with green spaces.

Dr Gary Fuller said that cities should be redesigned to improve air quality to enable residents to relax and children play.

The air pollution scientist at Imperial College is one of five 'champions' of the Clean Air Programme as well as a member of Defra's Air Quality Expert Group.

He made the comments during a talk on Wednesday with a community group in Brighton, the home of Britain's sole Green MP. 

The author of 'The Invisible Killer' pointed to greening campaigns in cities such as South Korea's capital Seoul and Utrecht in the Netherlands as examples of how planners could 'look beyond traffic'.

Dr Fuller also called for people to reduce their use of electronic devices at home such as computers and printers, the Telegraph reported.

He added that domestic products such as solvents from ink could be contributing more to pollution than 'all of industry put together'.

Before becoming an adviser to the government, Dr Fuller led the development of the London Air Quality Network which monitors key sites in the capital and has given evidence to the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee and the London Assembly.

He also independently reviewed research that supported Sadiq Khan's ULEZ expansion.

Referring to the air pollution in the capital, he cited a north London councillor who labelled traffic an 'invasive species' which 'swamps' all other modes of transport.

While most traffic pollution is created on busy arterial roads, as many as 80 per cent of people who live on them don't own a car.