Let Brent Breathe! Clean Air report goes to Scrutiny on Wednesday

A very thorough report by  the Air Quality Scrutiny Inquiry, chaired by Cllr Thomas Stephens, will go to the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday December 4th. Cllr Stephens was aided by 6 fellow councillors and two co-opted organisations, Clean Air for Brent and Brent Cyclists.

Cllr Stephens seems to be a bit of a Mystic Meg when he writes:

We are pleased that the Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee gave full formal endorsement to this report, and its recommendations, at its meeting on Wednesday 4 December 2019. We now look forward to each of these recommendations being considered by, and respond to, by Cabinet at the earliest opportunity in the New Year.

Never mind, the report is very welcome and if implemented effectively will make a major contribution to improving air quality to the limited extent that one can do it in one borough. I have posted the full report below for detailed appraisal but these are the 10 recommendations which are elaborated in much more detail.

List of recommendations

• Recommendation 1: That the Council update the Air Quality Strategy, and set out an aspiration to meet World Health Organisation limits on air pollution, commit to addressing inequality in air quality and complement the wider climate emergency agenda. We should also lobby national government where we are unable to effect change ourselves.
• Recommendation 2: That the Council, in consultation with Transport for London and the Football Association, agree a strategy to reduce the air quality impact of non-resident car usage in Brent.
• Recommendation 3: That the Council set up a Green Brent Partnership: a forum with organisations impacting air quality in Brent – including the private sector, community organisations and campaign groups – to agree shared targets to improve air quality locally. We should also lead by example by taking steps to reduce the air quality impact of Brent Council’s own activities.
• Recommendation 4: That the Council closely monitor and review the air quality impact of current policies, most particularly the Ultra-Low Emission Zone, and consider implementing and/or lobbying for stronger measures if necessary. It should also keep the provision of air quality monitoring sites under constant review.
• Recommendation 5: That the Council make the delivery of healthy streets a central corporate and political priority across the borough, working closely with local residents to expand the number of healthy streets locally.
• Recommendation 6: That the Council outline, publish and consult on a clear strategy for engagement with Transport for London on active travel initiatives – including the planned Willesden-Wembley Cycle Superhighway, measures to improve public transport provision and any future initiatives to improve accessibility over the North Circular.
• Recommendation 7: That the Council expand the number of initiatives for dealing with the air quality impact of housing and the built environment, and engage closely with experts to consider further steps as new evidence and technology emerges.
• Recommendation 8: That the Council continue to promote green space as a way of supporting active travel, and because of its wider benefits to health, the climate and biodiversity, but ensure that measures to improve greening are not promoted as a alternative to dealing with the underlying causes of poor air quality.
• Recommendation 9: That the Council continue to promote measures to improve air quality in our schools, and where possible enhance and expand on existing initiatives. It should work in partnership with schools and students to agree a shared approach to improving air quality in the borough.
• Recommendation 10: That the Council, working with the health sector, statutory partners and Brent’s public health team, spearhead a public health awareness and behavioural change campaign about air quality. The local NHS should also play its full part in delivering this, and lead by example in the measures they take to improve air quality.

Background Illustrations

 

Click bottom right corner for full page view:

Brent children need clean air NOW!

Dr Ian Mudway addressing the meeting

A packed meeting held at Queens Park Community School last week (Tuesday 12 November) heard from experts and campaigners how severely our children’s health is being affected by air pollution, and what should happen now to stop it.

Over 60 parents and campaigners from across Brent came together to hear Dr Ian Mudway, a respiratory disease specialist at King’s College London, explain how children’s lungs are damaged by daily exposure to diesel emissions, even when they don’t display any apparent symptoms.  Dr Mudway, a global expert on the subject, said:

I now believe that there’s no doubt that children who grow up in polluted areas have stunted lung development. Their lungs don’t develop properly. We’re seeing that in our children in Tower Hamlets and Hackney. Their lungs at the age of nine were already smaller than they ought to be. And that’s a burden that they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives.

The meeting also heard from Rosamund Kissi-Debrah.  She became a passionate campaigner after her daughter Ella, who had a rare and severe form of asthma, died in 2013.  She was nine years old.  The pathologist who carried out her post mortem said it was “one of the worst cases of asthma ever recorded in the UK”. The family were living next to the South Circular road at the time. 

Rosamund said:

It is unacceptable that children in Britain today die from asthma. There are 240,000 under-19s with a diagnosis of asthma in London.  Government and local authorities are not taking strong enough action…there needs to be new Clean Air Act.  Air pollution is related to many other diseases as well, costing the NHS millions each year to treat…My daughter suffered terribly, and hopefully her death will not be wasted.

In May 2019 Ella’s inquest was re-opened, to determine whether "unlawfully high levels of air pollution" were partially the cause of her death. Air pollution has never previously been officially recorded on an individual's death certificate.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for the Environment at Brent Council, attended to outline various Council initiatives to combat air pollution including measures to increase awareness about the dangers of idling, and a piloting of School Streets.   She said that “air quality has become a high priority in the council.”

Cllr Thomas Stephens who is currently chairing a Scrutiny Committee Air Quality Task Group said:

Air pollution is an invisible killer.  It’s hard to persuade people to take action when you cannot see it.  For example there’s a perception that people are safer inside a car, when this is not the case. We need to do a lot and need to do it quickly.

Mark Falcon, Chair of Clean Air for Brent, which is taking part in the Air Quality Task Group said:

Brent contains 4 out of 10 of London’s most polluted roads (1).  We believe the time has come for traffic control measures in the worst pollution hotspots, particularly those near schools. We urge Brent Council and Transport for London to take bold action now to protect our children’s health.

The Impact of Air Pollution on Children's Health - Clean Air for Brent meeting November 12th

From Clear Air for Brent

As you hopefully know by now we are holding an exciting public meeting at Queens Park Community School on Tuesday 12th November 7.30-9.30pm with a really strong variety of speakers.  It is also our AGM and we are inviting members to stand for the steering group. 

 

There is a particular vacancy for someone who would like to up our social media profile, though we would love to hear from anyone who feels they might have something to offer the group, taking us forward or in different directions. Your energy and enthusiasm will be appreciated. We meet five or six times through the year with email conversations between the meetings. If you would like to stand please  email cafbrent@gmail.com as soon as possible and one of us will be in touch to find out what your strengths and interests are.

In the meantime if you are coming to the meeting but have not yet signed up on Eventbrite please do here - it really helps us to know what the numbers will be.  A flyer with all the information is also attached

Please do pass this on to your network groups - all are very welcome.

At the meeting we are proud to present some great speakers who will bring a wealth of knowledge and suggest action to be taken:

Dr Ian Mudway of King’s College, London, a leading expert on air pollution and its impact on health and Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, the mother of Ella Roberta, who died aged 9 in 2013 after a severe asthma attack, whilst living next to the South Circular road.  The pathologist who carried out her post mortem said it was “one of the worst cases of asthma ever recorded in the UK”. Rosamund is now a passionate campaigner against air pollution and in May 2019 her daughter’s inquest was re-opened.  We will also hear from Cllr Thomas Stephens who chairs Brent Council's Air Quality Scrutiny Task Group and Humphrey Milles, a local resident who has been driving a national ad campaign on awareness of pollution issues.

See you on the 12th!

 

Best,

Clean Air for Brent

Harlesden Area Action Meeting - June 8th

Fresh on the heels of the adoption of the Harlesden Neighbourhood Plan comes this meeting of Harlesden Area Action.

The meeting is on Saturday June 8th 10.30 - Noon at the Royal Oak, 95 High Street, NW10 4TS.

 Come meet your neighbours, councillors for updates and voice your concerns.

Guest speakers:

Clean Air for Brent and Safer Kids

Clean Air Day report calls for urgent action by Brent Council

From Clean Air for Brent (CAfB)

Clean Air for Brent (CAfB)’s aim is to see air quality significantly improved in the London borough of Brent. As a tool towards helping Brent Council and residents achieve this goal, CAfB ispleased to launch ‘A Study on Air Quality in Brent’ on 21 June 2018 – national Clean Air Day. Following a proposal from CAfB, Imperial College MSc Environmental Technology students carried out this study between January and March 2018.

Chamberlayne Road in Kensal Rise and Harlesden High Street were chosen as case studies to analyse Brent’s air pollution problem and establish causes. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in both areas critically exceed the legal limit deemed fit for humans. 

Children are one of the most vulnerable groups harmed by  air pollution – including asthma, lung stunting and cognitive impairment.  John Keble C of E Primary is next to Harlesden High Street and Ark Franklin Primary is on Chamberlayne Road. Both are among the 50 most polluted primary schools in the capital that were included in the Mayor of London’s recent Air Quality School Audit. 

This report, the first deep-dive air pollution study of its kind for the two areas, not only identifies the causes but also recommends sources of funding to tackle the issue.

Unsurprisingly, the primary cause of the air pollution problems in the two areas is road traffic.

·      Traffic surveys show that a large proportion of the vehicles travelling through the study areas are diesel powered - 63% in Chamberlayne and 42% in Harlesden High Street.

·      Interviews conducted with drivers also reveal the significant role of non-local journeys – through traffic making up 50-60% of rush hour vehicles. 

·      Both routes carry traffic volumes double the national average for the time of day in question.

At a Celebration of Clean Air event held jointly with Brent Council and Brent Friends of the Earth at Civic Centre on Thursday evening, Chair of CAfB Fiona Mulaisho commented:

Today we are all signing up to a Brent Clean Air Pledge, and in keeping with that CAfB hopes Brent Councillors and officers will draw and act on this report.   As well as working with the worst affected schools to limit their exposure to filthy air in the playground and the classroom, we urge them to use all their powers to tackle the root causes and clean up the air our children and we breathe.

The full report is available on CAfB’s website: cleanairforbrent.wordpress.com.

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

Brent set to approve new primary school next to busy road despite air pollution warnings

The actual site yesterday

Artist's impressions of the new school above and below

Less than two weeks after Brent Clean Air warned about the need for urgent action to protect children from air pollution in schools site next to busy roads LINK, Brent Planning Committee will be considering building a 630 pupil primary school and nursery on the car park of York House, next to busy (and likely to be busier as Wembley continues to expand through regeneration) Empire Way, close to Wembley Stadium Station.  Traffic is already far busier than the artist's impression above, and busier at school times than shown in my photograph.

However, the Officer's report for the Committee LINK  does not go into any detail about air pollution, referring instead to a far more general reference back in 2015 when outline planning permission was given and focusing on the impact of demolition and construction rather than children's daily exposure to pollution.

They suggest that the playground will be protected from air pollution by the school building, although a rooftop multi use games area (MUGA) is planned as well as a rooftop learning area.  The playground itself is very small for a 630 pupil school.

Ariel view over the school playground

There is an acknowledgement that the area has heavy traffic as the report proposes that there should be reserved parking for parents at the red multi-storey car park near the LDO which would be a dropping off point for the children. Entry to York House itself will be via the LDO.

The present car park bounded by Empire Way, Stadium Way and the Royal Route

The school will be run by Ark as goverment policy does not allow local authorities to build new schools, and anyway Brent Council leader, Muhammed Butt,  who attended the February consultation meeting about the plans, is a great fan of Ark. and sits on the governing body of Ark Elvin which is round the corner from the proposed school. Others in Brent Labour Party are critics of the whole academies programme. Putting that aside there is no discussion on whether a school of that size is required as the recent pupil census showed spare places in Brent Primary schools LINK and there may be a further reduction as a consequence of Brexit.  Of course new flats are going up at a pace around Wembley stadium but they are not being designed, or marketed, as accommodation for families.

Quite a test for the scrutiny powers of the new Planning Committee.

'Radical action needed to protect Brent's children from air pollution,' says Clean Air for Brent

Poster from Green Action Centre

From Clean Air for Brent

The Mayor of London has published his long-awaited School Air Quality Audits, and they include two Brent primary schools which are situated next to busy roads, where the pupils are routinely exposed to illegal levels of air pollution. (1)

Clean Air for Brent is calling for urgent action from Brent Council and Transport for London which will deliver an immediate and positive impact on the air being breathed by children at John Keble, Ark Franklin and other Brent schools. 

We strongly urge that all such heavily trafficked roads in Brent become Low Emission Bus Zones – where only the cleanest buses are permitted during school travel times - and emission levels are monitored and acted upon where found to be consistently in breach of legal limits deemed fit for humans.

We also want to see other big polluters such as construction lorries banned from these routes during the start and end of school days.

And the number of children currently transported to and from schools by car must be halved. We have to call time on the ‘school run’.

While we welcome all schools having travel plans and joining TfL’s STARS scheme, we call on Brent Council to end its bizarre and perverse policy of giving teachers more car parking permits if the school has a ‘greener’ travel plan.

Finally we wish to see the Kensal Corridor traffic scheme - which is partly intended to tackle pollution - suspended until it can be fully and successfully integrated with the Ark Franklin Primary air quality improvement proposals. Both schemes need drastic strengthening before being taken forward.

“It is time to stop playing God with children’s lives” said Fiona Mulaisho, Chair of Clean Air for Brent. 

1. The Mayor’s School Air Quality Audit for Ark Franklin Primary Academy in Kensal Rise can be found here: https://bit.ly/2knrMY1 and the equivalent report for John Keble C of E Primary School in Harlesden can be found here: https://bit.ly/2x8CN8R

Editor's note:  Parents may be interested in joining the Clean Air Parents' Network HERE

Campaign group will ensure Clean Air pledges are not just hot air

From Left to Right

Victoria Secretan - CAfB steering group member

Prof Martin Williams, Kings College London, speaker

Fiona Mulaisho, CAfB Chair

Robin Sharp, CAfB Treasurer

Jennifer Barrett, Brent Council, speaker

From Clean Air for Brent

The campaign group Clean Air for Brent (CAfB) recently challenged all party leaders to pledge to clean up the borough’s dirty air in the May 2018 local elections, and has now received clean air policy statements from the four main parties. 

At a borough-wide public meeting held in Harlesden on Wednesday 18^th April, all the party statements were made available, and chair Fiona Mulaisho urged residents to think about air quality when they go to the ballot box on 3 May.  She says:

“We as residents all need to do our part, but the Council must lead us with meaningful action to reduce air pollution and enforcement to back it up. We will hold all those elected on 3 May to their promises on clean air.  Securing clean air for Brent should be the defining issue of the next 4 years.”

The party statements can all be read in full on the CAfB website HERE

Keynote speaker at the public meeting, Professor Martin Williams of Kings College London told attendees that air pollution is a significant risk factor for a number of diseases and health conditions. These include respiratory infections, heart disease, COPD, stroke and lung cancer.

The most common sources of air pollution include particulates, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide from road traffic. 

In Brent, it is estimated that at least 160 premature deaths per annum are directly attributable to air pollution, with a further unquantifiable number linked to dirty air. 

Editor's note: One rather surprising and welcome pledge is that from the Conservatives backing what has been Green Party policy for some time to divest the  Brent Pension Fund of its fossil fuel investments and ensuring that Brent makes not further investments in fossil fuels.

Local Action on Clean Air - Wednesday 18th April

The air we breathe - Local Action April 18th Harlesden Methodist Church

Clean Air for Brent invites you to a public meeting

‘THE AIR WE BREATHE: LOCAL ACTION'

Speakers include Professor Martin Williams (Air Quality Scientist at Kings College) and Jennifer Barrett (Air Quality lead at Brent Council)

Wednesday April 18th 7-9pm
Harlesden Methodist Church 25 High Street London NW10 4NE entrance from side passage in High St next to Church

Please use public transport. 8 min walk from Willesden Junction station, 12 min walk from Harlesden, buses 18, 187, 206, 220, 226 and 266

FREE EVENT – ALL ARE WELCOME
Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-air-we-breathe-local-action-tickets-44325338280
or email us at cafbrent@gmail.com

Clean air pledge demanded from Brent parties ahead of May election

The campaign group Clean Air for Brent (CAfB) has written to party leaders in Brent, challenging them to place cleaning up the borough’s dirty air at the top of their manifestos for the May 2018 local elections.

Fiona Mulaisho, Chair of CAfB said:

“The next four years will be absolutely crucial if Brent’s residents are to get the clean air they so desperately need.  Brent Council estimates that at least 200 people in our borough die prematurely from air pollution each year, and too many of our children are being exposed to levels of emissions that far exceed the legal limit.  Indeed, two Brent schools are currently part of the Mayor of London’s Schools Air Quality Audit, because they have the dubious honour of being among the 50 primary schools worst affected by air pollution in the capital.  We urge all parties and candidates to put combating air pollution front and centre in their manifestos and, if elected, to hit the ground running on this all-important issue.”

As well as building on and extending Brent Council’s revised Air Quality Action Plan, CAfB has asked for the following 5 key pledges from local politicians:

1. To support the Mayor’s proposals to extend the Ultra Low Emission Zone (currently under consultation). CAfB is strongly in favour of including the North Circular, as large numbers of people reside on its heavily polluted borders. 
2. To propose specific measures for schools next to busy roads – with reference to the Mayor’s recent audits of Ark Franklin and John Keble Primary Schools. 
3. To press the Mayor of London to deliver a clean bus fleet much sooner than is envisaged in TfL plans, as London buses are a major contributor to emissions. Currently, 72% of TfL bus routes in Brent are diesel.
4. To secure greater public involvement in activities to reduce air pollution, such as a Brent-wide anti-idling campaign with schools and elsewhere.
5. To increase public awareness of the public health impact of air pollution.

Clean Air for Brent is ready to work with all parties to deliver these aims.