On 21 November, Jess and Alex have been to the Air Quality Summit, jointly organised by Camden and Islington Councils. Here’s their report:

Professor Frank Kelly (King’s College) started the summit on the impacts of air pollution. With 29,000 death per year in the UK, this kills more than road collisions! more than alcoholism! Note that for each of those victims, pollution is causing the loss of 11 years of life on average. He talked in great details of some of the most harmful pollutants: the particulate matters (PM) emitted by diesel vehicles. PM10 are six times thinner than a hair, and yet very harmful. One of the most alarming issue is their effect on the development of children’s lung. For more resources, please refer to comeap.org.uk

Isabel Dedring (Deputy Mayor for Transport) helped us identify the sources of PM10 and NOx. On the one hand, PM10 is a typically transport related pollution, with enormous contributions from the black cabs and from ‘tyre & brake wear’. On the other hand, NOx is a more complex issue, to which traffic but also gas boilers contribute to a great extent. When asked by a conservative councillor why the Mayor didn’t do more to reduce congestion, she pointed out that quicker journey times would generate more demand for car travel. We were happily surprised by this wise position.

Lewis Merdler (Environmental Protection UK) encouraged us to follow the @HealthyAirUK campaign: healthyair.org.uk

Simon Birkett (Clean Air in London, @CleanAirLondon) pointed out that the Environment Audit Committee, in their latest report [link to the EAC report] is talking of a ‘national scandal’ caused by the inaction of the government on air quality. On Euston road, a stone’s throw away from the Council Chamber, the average level of NO2 is three times the legal limit. Already 40 Germany cities have implemented low emission zones (LEZ). What are we waiting for? And are we protected indoors? He recommends us to check if our offices’ ventilation system comply with the EN 13779 standard.

Roger Madelin, developper of the new land behind Kings Cross, has given an enthusiastic talk of which we can remember two points:

- Euston Road has had its capacity severely reduced over months during the rebuild of St Pancras Station around 2004: the road network system didn’t collapse, traffic levels through the area simply dropped! That’s a lesson to learn for decision makers contemplating a reallocation of road space!

- His developments will rely on a heat network, hence preventing the use of individual boilers and reducing NOx emissions.

Lucinda Turner (TfL) was presenting the range of policies which TfL is implementing. In particular, TfL is campaigning for motorists to turn off their engines as soon as they plan stopping for more than 1 minute, which is allegedly the environmental threshold beyond which savings can be made. She also acknowledges that electric vehicles are not ideal considering that they cause congestion, severance… [+ collisions and obesity, which we would add to her words]

Many thanks to Cllr Paul Braithwaite and Cllr Sean Birch for their leadership in organising this meeting. The speaker’s presentations, but also the complete video of the event, have now been uploaded to the Camden Council website

The Camden Transport Strategy 2011-2031 sets out how the Council will address a range of transport challenges. The strategy also forms the Local Implementation Plan, also called LIP, a key element to request funding from TfL.

Camden Friends of the Earth answered the consultation in February 2011, supporting most orientation but pushing for a more ambitious approach. Considering the financial difficulties the Council is facing, planning is critical. We have to set the priorities right. We must identify and support the future patterns of sustainable travel.

Amongst our many concerns, three key issues can be identified:

1) Camden must get serious about cutting excessive speeds in our neighbourhoods using physical measures such as speed tables and raised crossings;

2) The Council should explicitly stop supporting populist myths such as the “clean car for all” and the “lower emissions from smoother traffic flows”;

3) The strategy should plan for a legitimate steep increase in parking charges.

Our full answer can be downloaded here [PDF 500ko]. We are expecting Camden Council to publish a final version of their plan this month on this page: [Council's Transport Strategies and Plans]

Thousands of premature death every year can be attributed to air pollution in London. More than 4000 only to fine particulate matter called PM2.5. This is 20 times more than road fatalities!
In this context, I worked on the data coming out of a study on PM2.5 commissioned by the Greater London Authority [June 2010 report]. The data tells us that:

• Camden is the second most polluted London Borough, after Westminster,
• More than 100 people in Camden die from PM2.5 pollution each year.

I designed a couple of maps to show the levels of pollution across London and across Camden. They highlight the contributions of Heathrow airport and of road traffic. On the Camden map, you can see hundreds of black dots representing the premature deaths attributable to PM2.5. The dots do not indicate an accurate location but their quantity is precisely matching the number of deaths by ward.

- - - - - - - - London Map - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Camden Map - - - - - - - -

If you believe things must change, please have a look at the draft London Air Quality Strategy. Consultation goes on until 13 August, 2010 - 17:00. Let’s together use this blog to discuss the Mayor’s strategy and prepare a collective input to the debate!

First, and in order to trigger a debate, the Mayor seems to believe in electric vehicles and in the possibility of a smoother traffic flow. Other cities go the other way round and invests in tramways, bus priority and pedestrianised streets. Which strategy is the best? Hard to tell… but which one would deliver a broad range of long term benefits across policy areas?

Alex