Alfresco cafés in London should be banned, clean air campaigner warns

There are calls that planning applications with tables and chairs outside should be refused.
Alex Lentati

London's progress towards an alfresco “cafe society” should be halted in areas blighted by high levels of air pollution, a leading campaigner said today.

Simon Birkett, founder of the Clean Air in London group, said drinkers and diners were putting themselves at risk by lingering over coffees on pavement tables next to the most badly-affected streets.

The former investment banker is also chair of the Knightsbridge Neighbourhood Forum, which today demanded that planning applications to put tables and chairs on pavements should be refused if local air quality is below World Health Organisation guideline limits for exposure.

Mr Birkett said: “Health must come first. The WHO guidelines state that there should be no human exposure to more than 200 micrograms of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) per cubic metre for longer than an hour.

'Cafe society' in areas of high pollution should be stopped, a campaigner has said. 
Alex Lentati

“The reality is that you could well be sitting at a cafe for more than an hour and you certainly might visit more than once.”

He said that the NO2 hourly limit had been breached 159 times already this year at the monitoring station in Brompton Road near Harrods, compared with a legal limit of 18. The average concentration over the year has been 76 micrograms — almost twice the legal maximum of 40.

There are a number of cafes near the monitoring station with outdoor tables in the warmer months including branches of Caffé Concerto, Caffè Nero, Venice Cafe, Richoux and Pret a Manger as well as the Indian restaurant Chapati & Karak. Today’s document includes the proposal that applications “to place tables and chairs on the pavement will only be permitted if the World Health Organisation’s guideline for hourly mean exposure to nitrogen dioxide is unlikely to be exceeded in that location”.

Mr Birkett said: “We are trying to send a powerful signal to the Mayor, Kensington & Chelsea council, the City of Westminster council and Transport for London that they have got to do something. The current situation is just not good enough.

“Brompton Road is a classic street canyon that traps the emissions because of the tall buildings on either side. But it is also one of the busiest streets in London in terms of pedestrian traffic.”

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