Joining in the campaign at BAQ 2012 last week – however there is a serious message
Earlier this week the London Assembly released an issue paper – Air pollution in London– setting out a number of pressing issues at the beginning of the present political term, stating that air pollution is still a serious issue and more must be done to tackle it to mitigate its ill effects. This while that London’s air pollution is already the worst of any European capital city.
At the sametime, according to official figures released by DEFRA up to 9 per cent of deaths in the capital’s most polluted areas is attributable to air pollution in places in Central London like the City of London. ( They are official Defra estimates based on nationwide modelling of pollutant levels and a scientifically-based estimate of the mortality impact of pollutant levels) Furthermore no one borough in the suburbs is lower then the England average of 5.6 even in places like Bromley & Havering.
Borough breakdowns ( Percentage figure of deaths attributed to air pollution)
| England | 5.6 |
| City ofLondon | 9 |
| City of Westminster | 8.3 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 8.3 |
| Tower Hamlets | 8.1 |
| Southwark | 7.9 |
| Islington | 7.9 |
| Hammersmith & Fulham | 7.9 |
| Hackney | 7.8 |
| Lambeth | 7.7 |
| Camden | 7.7 |
| Newham | 7.6 |
| Wandsworth | 7.3 |
| WalthamForest | 7.3 |
| Lewisham | 7.2 |
| Greenwich | 7.2 |
| Ealing | 7.2 |
| Brent | 7.2 |
| Hounslow | 7.1 |
| Haringey | 7.1 |
| Barking & Dagenham | 7.1 |
| Redbridge | 7 |
| Merton | 6.9 |
| RichmonduponThames | 6.8 |
| Barnet | 6.8 |
| KingstonuponThames | 6.7 |
| Enfield | 6.6 |
| Bexley | 6.6 |
| Hillingdon | 6.5 |
| Croydon | 6.5 |
| Sutton | 6.4 |
| Harrow | 6.4 |
| Havering | 6.3 |
| Bromley | 6.3 |
Source: Public Health Observatory
The toxic pollutants are linked to life-shortening lung and heart conditions and the underdevelopment of young peoples lungs and the eahlth costs for the NHS are estimated at £20 billion a year, twice the cost of obesity. Mayor’s own study estimated there are over 4,000 extra deaths each year in London from particulates, thats almost 20 times the level of road fatalities in London.
So what are we saying? Well we set out a number of pressing issues, and we’re inviting views from experts and interested organisations about air quality topics for future in-depth work. Concentrations of both PM and NO2 remain too high in London and further action is needed to protect public health and amongst those suggested are below;
- The most polluting vehicles on London’s roads are diesel. Options for reducing emissions should be considered, such as imposing stricter standards for diesel vehicles within the Low Emission Zone.
- Retrofitting older buses with new technology could cut NOx emissions by more than 70 per cent. Some believe TfL should do more to find innovative and bold solutions to emissions from its fleet;
- and finally and not least greater promotion of cleaner technologies, such as electric vehicles and cycling, should also be considered.
Now whilst l was in Hong Kong the previous week for the Better Air Quality 2012 conference otherwise known as BAQ 2012 and organised by Clean Air Asia with the theme of Growing cities & healthy cities, the message was clear – no to adaptation and yes to mitigation of poor air. This was highlighted by a campaign launched with false noses with hair growth illustrating some natural adaptation possibly as the dirtier the air the more hair growth that would be needed. So the conference had a clear message, don’t adapt to air pollution. I brought back that message to our shores. Lets hope the Mayor is listening and makes tackling poor air quality his new year resolution.