Air Quality Action Plan, progress and delivery
Our road transport, planning and development strategies are now all focused on improving air quality for residents and visitors of Newham.
The Air Quality Management Area
Certain pollutants in Newham exceed the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines as well as the national air quality objectives for human exposure. In response, we issued a borough-wide Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) Order in December 2019 for particulate, and NO2 pollution and produced an action plan.
Air Quality Management Area Recourses
Map of Air Quality Management Area
Borough Wide Air Quality Management Area Order
The Air Quality Action Plan
The Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, has launched a comprehensive five-year plan to tackle poor air quality in the borough.
Read our Air Quality Action Plan 2019 to 2024 (PDF)
Newham are in the process of refreshing their Air Quality Action Plan, to cover the next five-year period, 2024-2029. An extensive consultation, seeking responses from residents, community groups, businesses and all other relevant stakeholders within the borough, will be undertaken later on this year.
Air Quality Action Plan Consultation
A consultation process was undertaken in 2018 for six weeks on the councils Draft Air Quality Action Plan.
The following document summarises the consultation process, the responses received, and our response to suggestions and the issues raised, including the resulting changes to the plan.
Summary of Consultation Responses to the Draft Air Quality Action Plan 2019 to 2024 (PDF)
The five year Air Quality Action Plan will help us to organise and monitor our work, compare data and results from previous years.
The Mayor of Newham has established an Air Quality and Climate Change Task Force and a Commissioner has been appointed by the Mayor to support her in the delivery of the Air Quality Action Plan across all Council Services.
Annual Review and Assessment Report
Every year we review our progress in meeting the air quality actions in our plan and if air quality has improved. You can read about our progress in our Annual Review and assessment report.
Air Quality Annual Status Report 2024 (PDF)
Particularly notable measures and actions by Newham that were undertaken in 2024 include:
- Deployed 25 small sensor monitors, 3 real-time monitors, and 99 NO2 diffusion tubes.
- Launched Air Aware tool for live air pollution levels.
- Expanded Healthy School Streets to 38 zones, reducing traffic during peak hours.
- Climate education program in schools, focusing on high deprivation areas.
- BetterPoints program encouraging walking, cycling, and running through rewards.
- Cargo Bikes for Business initiative with subsidies and trials.
- 70 fully electric vehicles, 137 mild hybrid vehicles, and expanded EV charging infrastructure.
- Diesel surcharge to incentivize greener vehicle choices.
- Planted seven pocket forests and developed Beckton Meadows wildflower meadow.
- Westfield Avenue transformed with greenery and improved infrastructure.
- North Woolwich Rd Corridor and Prince Regent Lane improvements for active travel.
- £2.5 million spent on public realm improvements in various areas.
The MoL publishes an annual London wide Air Quality Compendium which summarises each boroughs report to facilitate sharing of air quality data and best practice air quality control, which has improved working across boroughs. The full report is available to download.
