Newham Council members last night voted to adopt a new Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) for the five years 2019-2024, and move to a whole borough Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).
Moving to a whole borough AQMA allows the council to expand the air quality monitoring network from main roads to cover all areas of Newham including schools.
The council will be investing in specialist monitors to measure the microscopic sooty carbon particles that have been shown to stunt children’s lung growth and cause longer term respiratory problems in the older population.
As part of the plan, Newham is piloting a road closure scheme to traffic during the busy school run and is monitoring the impact of these trial closures, using new real-time mobile air quality monitors. This supplements the recent rollout of air quality monitoring outside every primary and secondary school in Newham (the first such initiative in the UK) and will inform future measures to reduce exposure to toxic air.
Newham has one of the highest rates of deaths attributable to poor air quality and for hospital asthma admissions for Under 9s in London.
The air quality action plan contains 25 key action areas across all council service areas to mitigate and improve poor air quality. The full plan includes actions to:
- Improve walking and cycling infrastructure
- Raise awareness of the negative impact of car idling especially outside schools and on busy high streets
- Green audit of all council services and vehicle fleet management
- Minimising pollution from construction site machinery
- Improving energy efficient lighting to housing and new developments
- Install more charging points to encourage electric vehicle take-up.
Helen Masterson Noise and Pollution Manager said “Having an agreed robust and ambitious Air Quality Action Plan in place for the next five years enables the council to reduce the concentration of, and exposure to, air pollution thereby positively impacting on the health and quality of life of residents and visitors to Newham.”