436 children under five admitted to Northwick Park and Barnet Hospitals with breathing difficulties according to latest (2023) figures

 From Mums for Lungs

A Freedom of Information request sent to London Northwest University Healthcare Trust and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust reveals the scale of respiratory problems amongst the youngest children in Brent and Barnet. 

In 2023, the latest figures available, 436 children under five were dmitted to hospital with respiratory difficulties. Across 22  London hospitals surveyed, more than 15,000 children were admitted with serious breathing difficulties. 

 

 Baby grows Brent: credit Jonathan Goldberg. 

L-R: Amandine Alexandre, Sally Toure, Tony Burch, Frances Holloway, Gourav Gourav, Ilaria Esposito, Agnieszka Szewera in Roundwood Park near Northwick Park Hospital. Pic credit: Jonathan Goldberg / Mums for Lungs.

 

The figures, obtained by air pollution campaigners, Mums for Lungs, have prompted calls to speed up the removal of all diesel vehicles by at least 2030, with some limited exceptions. 

Parents have been hanging baby grows that spell out ‘Clean Air Now’ near areas affected by high levels of pollution, all in breach of World Health Organization standards.

Across England as a whole, 15,328 children aged 19 or under were admitted into hospital for serious asthma attacks alone, according to Public Health England figures from 2022/23. For London, the figure is 2,705.

 

Amandine Alexandre, a parent who lives in Brent and trustee of Harlesden Neighbourhood Forum said,

 

Although air quality in Brent has improved since 2016, Harlesden High Street is bucking this trend. Thanks to our Breathe London monitoring station, we know that, most days, nitrogen dioxide levels still far exceed the air quality standards set by the World Health Organization in 2021. This is very worrying considering that NO2 irritates our lungs and weakens our immune system. Harlesden residents deserve cleaner air now.”

 

Harlesden Neighbourhood Forum, a charity responsible for implementing the local neighbourhood plan, was successful in bidding for a Breathe London community node in 2021. The solar powered pollution monitoring station was installed by Imperial College London in March 2022. (It was taken down by Brent council by mistake in the autumn of 2022 and was re-installed on March 30th 2023.) The data can be accessed live on Breathe London. It can also be easily visualised on Air Aware. 

 

The Breathe London Network was established in 2021 as a partnership between the Mayor of London, Imperial College London, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. It is making reliable air quality monitoring data more accessible to local communities by building a network of accurate and reliable air quality sensors across the capital.

 

Air pollution monitors in Brent and Barnet continue to show high levels of some of the most dangerous forms of pollution - including nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM 2.5). 

Due to the small size of many of the particles some of these toxins may enter the bloodstream and be transported around the body, lodging in the heart, brain and other organs. Exposure to PM 2.5 can result in serious impacts to health, especially in vulnerable groups of people such as the young and elderly. 

Short-term exposure to concentrations of NO2 can cause inflammation of the airways and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections and to allergens. NO2 can exacerbate the symptoms of those already suffering from lung or heart conditions.

Monitors in Brent  show levels of air pollution  in some cases close to the legal limits (23 - 33 μg/m3 NO2) and well for  PM2.5 above WHO guidelines for 2024 so far as well. 

 

Brent – Ark Franklin

Brent – IKEA

Brent – John Keble Primary School

Brent – Neasden Lane

 

NB. UK legal annual limit values:

NO2 = 40μg/m3, PM2.5 = 20μg/m3.  

WHO guidelines:

NO2 = 10μg/m3, PM2.5 = 5μg/m3

 Editor's note: The new North Brent Secondary School is due to open in Neasden Lane

 

Dr Anna Moore, a respiratory doctor who works in a London NHS Hospital, added: 

All the evidence shows that there is a clear connection between high levels of air pollution and respiratory conditions. These figures also demonstrate that there are hundreds of children who are in hospital with conditions that could be prevented. At a time when NHS resources are stretched thin, we need to urgently clean up our air, including completely phasing out the most heavily polluting diesel cars, trucks and vans and focus on infrastructure which enables safe walking and cycling as this is vital for long term health.

Jemima Hartshorn, Mums for Lungs, said:

Thousands of children are unable to breathe because of preventable air pollution, this must change. So many children are being admitted to hospitals with serious cases of asthma, and all the evidence shows that damaging lungs at an early age can cause lifelong health conditions. The next national Government, Mayors and local authorities must all use their powers to phase out diesel vehicles and protect children from painful and debilitating health conditions.

Road transport is the largest contributor to air pollution in London and it’s thought that air pollution contributes to around 4,000 early deaths each year in London. 

Mums for Lungs have written to the main political party leaders Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer calling for them to discourage people from buying diesel vehicles and to set a target for England to be diesel-free by 2030, with limited exemptions, alongside action on wood burning and creating more School Streets, which restrict car use at drop off and pick up. 

 

 

The Art of Campaigning: Furness schoolchildren say 'Time to Stop Air Pollution'

 Furness Primary children stand proudly in front of their sign (Credit: Amandine Alexandre)

 

Children at Furness Primary school had a point to make and, on Tuesday 26th April 2022, in front of a group of parents, teachers and candidates to the local elections, they made it very clearly and eloquently. 

 

The pupils of the school located in the Harlesden and Kensal Green ward unveiled the clean air artwork they have created as part of a joint Mums for Lungs and Lin Kam Art’ project. 

 

The message displayed on the artwork they created with Harlesden born artist Linett Kamala is an injunction rather than a plea : ‘Time to stop air pollution’ is the slogan Year 5 pupils chose to have across the 5 panels of their text-based artwork and is a powerful message to tackle air pollution. 

 

‘Less pollution, less driving, care for your health’, ‘Cars cause pollution, we need to find a solution', ‘We need to act now’ are some of the messages inscribed in red and black on the boards installed on Palermo road near Willesden Junction station that will get the attention of passers-by for the next weeks. 

 

The urgency to act on air pollution locally was also voiced by some of the Year 5 pupils. 

 

 

Photo: Amandine Alexandre

 

 

‘Some people such as myself suffer from asthma. (...) This can result in finding it difficult to breathe and suffering asthma attacks. We must act as a community now’, 9 year old Aya declared during the unveiling ceremony. 

 

Her fellow pupils Ahmed and Samuel also made the most of the opportunity to get their message across to Councillor Mili Patel, independent candidate Wassim Badru and Green candidate Eugenia Barnett all present at the event. ‘As our elected representatives, how do you seek to improve the quality of air in Brent?’, Ahmed enquired. 

 

Mili Patel, one of the outgoing councillors standing for re-election and a former pupil of Furness Primary, assured the children that she wanted to work with them on ways to reduce air pollution in the area. “As someone who grew up locally, now raising a family, I understand the need for better air quality in Harlesden (...)”, the Labour candidate later reiterated on Twitter. 

 

The artist Linett Kamala who led the workshops said “the project we carried out with Furness Primary school pupils made it clear that the pupils were eager to find out about the impact of air pollution on their health and make a call for action through their artwork”. Mums for Lungs clean air campaigner Amandine Alexandre commented. “They are also acutely aware that solutions exist that will reduce air pollution drastically for the sake of everyone”, the Harlesden resident and mum added. 

 

The Furness Primary school clean air art project is one of 4 school projects led by Mums for Lungs and Linett Kamala in Brent as a result of the first round of participatory budgeting, #YouDecide, organised by Brent council last January. It is one of 8 projects that Brent residents decided should benefit from the pot 2 of the Carbon Offset Fund. 

 

After the event, Eugenia Barnett,  Green candidate for Harlesden and Kensal Green told Wembley Matters:

It was a pleasure to be invited by Furness Primary school to the unveiling of clean air art work created by pupils in collaboration with Lin Kim Art and Mums for Lungs. For decades, Harlesden air pollution has been in the top 10 highest in the UK.  Imperial College  published their air pollution level report in 2021 report which marked Harlesden as the town with the highest pollution levels in the country - the nitrogen dioxide here can reach  4 times the levels approved as appropriate by WHO. At the same time, Harlesden has quite a high concentration of schools, where children perform PE outdoors. For these valid reasons, air pollution must be tackled in Harlesden and Kensal Green. We know that solutions do exist. I will lobby personally with local community groups to pressure Brent and London councils to improve the situation to ensure that our children grow up in the healthier environment. Brent Greens have endorsed Mums for Lungs' 'Five Asks.'

 

Parent activists Mums for Lungs call for a ‘diesel-free city’ to protect children’s lungs and highlight 'illegal' air pollution on North Circular

 

At the North Circular Road (IKEA) monitoring site (Photo Amandine Alexandre-Hughes)

 

A group of concerned parents have launched a pavement art campaign in areas of London with harmful levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂). Mums for Lungs campaigners used eye-catching stencils stating, ‘illegal air pollution recorded here’ and demanding action to ‘protect children’s lungs.’ The stencils point to 15 air quality monitors that recorded illegal levels of NO₂ in 2020 – a pollutant that can cause reduced lung function in children, as well as trigger asthma attacks and hospital admissions for children living with lung conditions. 

 

Location of stencils at air quality monitoring stations

 

London has never met its requirement to reduce pollution below legal limits(1) and the health impacts of pollution are not equal. Previous research shows that NO₂ pollution is on average 24-31% higher in areas where people from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds are most likely to live. (2)

 

 

Environmental Defense Fund Europe (EDF Europe) compiled readings from the city’s reference air pollution monitors and used modelled data, produced by Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (CERC) for the Breathe London pilot project, to estimate that approximately two-thirds (67%) of the NO₂ pollution at these locations came from diesel vehicles, such as cars, taxis, vans and heavy goods vehicles. (3)

 

 

Most of the illegal sites are located outside of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), London’s measure to lower diesel pollution by charging more polluting vehicles to enter the city centre. The zone dramatically reduced air pollution in central London (4) and will be expanded to a much larger area on 25 October 2021. Some of the illegally polluted sites are beyond the ULEZ expansion, including in Kingston and Merton. 

 

 

Nine of the 15 locations are on or adjacent to the city’s Red Routes – a network of major roads managed by Transport for London. A recent health assessment has shown how these roads create an unequal health burden in the city (5), leading to calls for action to make them significantly healthier and safer. Around 47,500 primary school children study close to these major roads. (6) The Mayor of London has committed to identifying ‘bespoke solutions’ for Red Route locations that are unlikely to meet legal NO₂ limits after the ULEZ expansion, but plans are yet to be seen. (7)

 

 Amandine Alexandre-Hughes, Mums for Lungs activist and Clean Air Ambassador for Harlesden Neighborhood Forum, (Brent Ikea site) told Wembley Matters:

 

The expansion of the ULEZ cannot happen soon enough in Harlesden. Our high street has the highest NO2 rating in the UK, so cleaning up the air in our area requires urgent action. 

 

However, the ULEZ expansion won’t be sufficient for Harlesden children to breathe clean air and, also, it won’t cover Brent North. IKEA Wembley, for example, is on the ‘wrong side’ of the North circular. So, NO2 levels will remain extremely high there and that's a real worry for me, as I live close to IKEA Wembley with my husband and 4 year old son.

 

All children deserve clean air, whether they live in Brent North or Brent South. It’s the bare minimum we owe them as adults. Diesel vehicles need banning in London as soon as possible. The boom in diesel delivery vans in the capital is completely unsustainable. It has to be reversed at speed.

 

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[1] Annual average pollution targets for NO₂ were set in 2000 with an objective date to meet the target in 2005. In 2007, the target was updated to be in line with EU obligations to be achieved by 2010.

[2] EDF Europe analysis using Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (CERC) high-resolution modelled NO₂ 2019 annual averages produced as part of the Breathe London pilot project and census 2011 data from the Office for National Statistics.

[3] EDF Europe analysis

[4] Greater London Authority: Central London ULEZ - Ten Month Report

[5] EDF Europe and Centric Lab: Rethinking London’s Red Routes

[6] EDF Europe: Parent and teen campaigners demand action after study reveals nearly 50,000 London school children exposed to dangerous pollution from Red Route roads

[7] Mayor of London: Improving London’s Red Routes