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Ellas Law
Ella Roberta developed severe asthma shortly before her seventh birthday. Over the next two years, she was admitted to intensive care five times. Triggered by air pollution, her asthma repeatedly left her unable to breathe, and at just nine years old, Ella died.
Ella is the first person in the UK whose death certificate formally recognised air pollution as a cause of death.
That recognition led to a proposed law - Ella's Law.
Safe Air Schools took this picture during the unveiling of Ella’s statue in April 2025. Inhaler in hand, the sculpture depicts Ella wearing the clothes she wore the day before her final asthma attack, including the shoes she wore to school. She now stands in a rose garden in her community, overlooking the hospital that cared for her until she died.
What is Ella's Law
Also known as the Clean Air Human Right's Bill, it is a proposed law that would make clean air a human right. It would strengthen legal protections when air pollution harms health, align air quality targets with World Health Organisation guidelines, and create an independent commission to hold governments to account. That commission would pay particular regard to the needs of especially sensitive groups and consider target limits for indoor and public transport settings, not just outdoor air.
Safe Air Schools UK supports Ella's Law, the campaign to make clean air a legal right for everyone, especially children. The Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill is the proposed legislation that would deliver this change.
Summary of the proposed Clean Air Human Right's Bill
- To make provision for reducing indoor and outdoor air pollution, including greenhouse gases
- To set minimum standards for air quality in workplaces, homes and public spaces
- To require the monitoring of air quality
- To require the Secretary of State to publish a strategy for reducing air pollution, including setting targets and measures for air quality, and to report to Parliament annually on the implementation of that strategy
- To give powers to the Office for Environmental Protection to enforce legislation relating to air quality and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
- To make provisions to reduce pollution from vehicles
- To place a duty on the Secretary of State to encourage and facilitate forms of active travel and to publish a strategy for reducing emissions from transport.
