Redbridge Council plans to issue fines if residents leave their car engine on when “it does not need to be”.

The local authority's highways team said the order would apply to "any area of carriageway in the London Borough of Redbridge including any area designated as a parking place, loading bay, recharging point, taxi rank and to any length of street where waiting is restricted".

The council has now launched a consultation about fining idling drivers and residents have until Friday, August 2, 2019, to respond.

A Redbridge Council spokesman said: "Vehicle idling is when someone leaves their engine on even when it does not need to be.

"It is a source of localised pollution and poor air quality, which can have serious adverse health impacts on residents and visitors to the borough, particularly those who are most vulnerable such as children and the elderly."

The council said that in a recent consultation on the new Air Quality Action Plan for the borough, 74per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with proposals to increase enforcement action against vehicle idling.

"We are therefore proposing to introduce a Traffic Management Order (TMO) to allow enforcement officers to issue penalty charge notices to drivers who leave a vehicle running whilst parked," the council spokesman added.

As well as enforcing idling, the council hopes to run education and behaviour change campaign to help reduce localised air pollution caused by motorists.

"We want to know what you think of our proposals to enforce 'no vehicle idling' across the borough through a TMO," it added.

"It will only be through the support of the community and everyone playing their part that we can secure real improvements in air quality and protect people's health for the future."

There are three questions in the survey with the first asking residents if they back the plans on a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

The second questions asks which areas in the borough should be given enforcement priority and options include schools, hospitals, bus stops and outside Tube and railway stations.

The last question gives participants the opportunity to provide feedback in their own words.

To take part in the survey visit engagement.redbridge.gov.uk/civic-pride/vehicle-idling