A London council will be the first in the UK to install air quality monitors in every school to better understand how much toxic pollution children are breathing in every day.
Newham council will set up the monitors in the borough’s 96 schools next month. The data they record will be used to influence traffic policies — and could see parents banned from driving up to drop off and collect children.
Air pollution is linked to seven in every 100 deaths of people aged 30 and over in the borough — one of the highest rates in the country, according to Public Health England.
Councillor Mas Patel, Newham’s commissioner for air quality and climate change, said: “This summer we will be the first UK local authority to install air quality monitors in all schools and we will publish a comprehensive paper on how we will tackle the climate emergency.
“Newham has [one of the] largest number of deaths attributable to air quality in the country. This has to change to protect our schoolchildren.”
Two million Londoners live in areas where pollution exceeds legal limits, according to City Hall data, and about 10 per cent of hospital admissions for children were linked to an adverse response to poor air quality.
In total more than 9,000 Londoners a year are thought to die prematurely from long-term exposure to polluted air. The ultra low emission zone (Ulez) introduced in central London in April forces drivers of most diesel vehicles and older petrol cars to pay £12.50 to enter the zone covered by the congestion charge. It will be expanded to an area bounded by the north and south circulars, but not until October 2021.
A Newham spokesman said: “We will be installing air quality monitoring devices outside all schools to monitor levels of air pollution and to determine which schools are impacted the most.
“We will then work with local schools to consider how we can improve the street environment outside. This could include improving footways and pedestrian crossings and introducing timed road closures near school entrances at pick-up and drop-off times.”
Read More
In April, 250 pupils from five primary schools took part in a trial to help monitor pollution across London. They wore backpacks with air quality sensors to measure particulate matter and NO2 levels. Scientists will use the data to identify pollution hotspots.
