Clean Air for Brent call for thorough air quality assessment for new Empire Way primary school

A gross under-estimate of traffic?

A spokesperson for Clean Air for Brent (CAfB) has commented on the proposed 630 pupil primary school on the site of the York House car park on Empire Way, Wembley:

We know that children in schools on busy roads in Brent are being regularly exposed to illegal levels of air pollution. It’s imperative therefore that Brent Council put air quality at the top of their list of considerations for any new school being proposed in the borough.  A child attending school will have 8 years’ worth of exposure, and it is during these years that children are said to be most vulnerable to the harms of pollution, including asthma, poor lung development etc.

In any case it is hard to see how this proposal aligns with Brent’s current Air Quality Action Plan which states that ‘ The council will review all new planning applications for potential air quality impacts and require all new development have no additional impact on local air pollution as a minimum requirement.’

Given that a superficial air quality assessment was done in 2015, Clean Air for Brent are calling for an up to date Environmental Impact Assessment to be done. 

The Council must do this not just for the children but so that parents can use this information to decide whether they want to send their child to a school that is located on a busy main road, and therefore its air quality environment likely to be highly compromised by passing traffic. 

The decision on whether to grant  planning permission for the school is due at the Planning Committee on Wednesday. LINK