Lockdown in London sees pollution halved at commuter hotspots

From Global Action Plan

New research by Environmental Defense Fund Europe (EDFE) and Global Action Plan has found that three commuter hotspots in London, such as Borough High Street, have shown an average decrease in nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) of 30% compared to 9-17% across Greater London. Additionally, these busy areas saw up to 50% drops in pollution during rush hours.  

EDFE analysed pollution data from the Breathe London monitoring network during morning (8-11am) and evening (5-8pm) commuting hours in the first four weeks of lockdown, finding reductions of: 

·       Borough High Street, at the base of London Bridge: 37% morning and 47% evening 

·       Cowcross Street, near Farringdon Train Station: 38% morning and 43% evening 

·       South Street, adjacent to the major transport thoroughfare of Park Lane: 32% morning and 50% evening 

These three sites were also in the top five of overall NO₂ pollution reduction locations for the Breathe London network. NO₂ is a toxic pollutant produced when fossil fuels such as diesel, petrol or natural gas are burned. 

In order to keep air pollution down, particularly during rush hour, Global Action Plan is calling on businesses to offer remote working to employees to ease pressure during peak travel times. 

Additional research also shows that Londoners are more concerned about the air pollution since lockdown and are keen for it to stay low. A recent survey by Global Action Plan, commissioned by urban health foundation Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, finds: 

·       72% of Londoners noticed cleaner air during lockdown  

·       70% of Londoners want government and local authorities to tackle air pollution and traffic more urgently than before the coronavirus outbreak 

·       40% of Londoners are more concerned about air pollution since the coronavirus outbreak 

·       80% of Londoners would like to work remotely after lockdown to some extent 

·       73% of Londoners are happier not dealing with rush hour 

As part of Global Action Plan’s call for continued remote working through the Build Back Cleaner Air project with Guy’s and St. Thomas’s Charity, they are helping businesses emerge safely and sustainably from the coronavirus pandemic. The project is offering businesses free support through the Business for Clean Air Initiative which launched on June 24^th. It’s the UK’s first free initiative to help businesses prioritise the most impactful ways to cut air pollution and make a green recovery post lockdown. Companies can sign up for free, here: https://bit.ly/2V44hpl 

Shirley Rodrigues, Londond Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, says:

Toxic air contributes to thousands of premature deaths in London every year and there is emerging evidence linking air pollution with an increased vulnerability to COVID-19. The Mayor has taken bold action with measures such as the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone and Low Emission Bus Zones, and they are already transforming the air we breathe. 

London’s recovery from this pandemic must be a green, fair and prosperous one, and it’s clear that Londoners agree. Our challenge is to eradicate air pollution permanently and ensure the gains we’ve made through policies such as ULEZ continue. The Mayor’s new Streetspace programme is fast-tracking the transformation of streets across our city to enable many more people to walk and cycle. By making the right choices we can all play a part in tackling our air pollution crisis.

Chris Large, Co-CEO at Global Action Plan, says:  

These findings are clear: air pollution clears up rapidly when we stop driving polluting vehicles. Children in some London boroughs average 10% smaller lungs than the UK average, and this stunting stays for life. Businesses can end this disadvantage to London’s inner-city children by committing to tackling air pollution.

Oliver Lord, Head of Policy and Campaigns, EDFE says: 

Last year, the Breathe London network recorded seriously elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide pollution at some of the busiest commuter areas during rush hour. Lockdown has made a huge difference and shown how much it is in our hands to build back better.

Kate Langford, Programme Director, Health Effects of Air Pollution, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, says:  

We know that air pollution disproportionately impacts some people’s health more than others, including children and people with long-term conditions. There is also emerging evidence that COVID-19 leads to long-term lung damage and the groups disproportionality impacted by the virus are likely to be affected by air pollution as their lungs recover. This research makes clear that Londoner’s want the cleaner air and safer streets they have experienced in the last few months to remain, and that all parts of society including employers and businesses have a part to play in making the cities we live in healthier.

Brent drivers face £40 fine if they don't comply with request to stop engine idling

From Brent Council

Motorists in Brent are being encouraged to switch off their engines when parked for over a minute to reduce air pollution in London. Engine idling creates toxic air in London which damages the health of people in Brent. Drivers who are parked in in the borough, and idling for over one minute, will be asked to switch off their engines by Brent Council’s Clean Air officers. If they refuse, the drivers can be issued with an on-the-spot fine of up to £40.

Toxic air leads to 9,000 people dying prematurely every year in the capital and a child born in London in 2010 will lose two years of life expectancy because of air pollution.

Brent Council is working hard with residents to improve our air quality, including: providing free cycle training courses for residents, increasing the number of electric street charging points in Brent and encouraging the use of car clubs with electric cars.

Cllr Krupa Sheth, Cabinet Member for Environment said:

Engine idling damages the health of people living in Brent by increasing the amount of toxic air we breathe. I urge everyone who drives in Brent to help us clean up London’s toxic air by reducing the time their engines idle while they are parked. If drivers who have been parked for over a minute refuse to switch off their engines they may be issued with an on-the-spot fine. Let’s reduce engine idling to make Brent healthier.

Traffic at the proposed site for Ark Somerville Primary School 9am this morning

Brent Planning Committee will make a decision on granting planning permission for a 630 pupil primary school on the car park of York House on Empire Way, Wembley.

Wembley Matters checked out the traffic conditions around the proposed site this morning.

Residents urged to support petiton for a Public Inquiry into Cricklewood Superhub

A petition has been launched asking the Secretary of Stae for Communities and Local Government to set up a Public Inquiry into the Cricklewood Aggregates Superhub.

This is the petition:

REQUEST FOR A PUBLIC INQUIRY INTO THE CRICKLEWOOD AGGREGATES SUPERHUBLand at Rear Of 400 Edgware Road Cricklewood, NW2 6ND
Planning Application 17/5761/EIA London Borough of Barnet

We the undersigned request you to issue a holding direction on any decision regarding this planning application by the London Borough of Barnet- with a view to calling it in. This decision affects the air quality of future generations in Brent and Camden as well as Barnet.

We believe it meets six of your criteria

• affects the quality of life across a wider area than a single local authority
• has significant effects beyond their immediate locality
• proposals for development of major importance having more than local significance
• proposals giving rise to substantial regional controversy
• proposals which raise important issues of development control, and/or legal difficulties;
• proposals of major significance for the delivery of the Government's climate change programme and energy policies

The petition can be signed HERE

Disappointment as London Mayor decides not to intervene in the Cricklewood Aggregate Hub

Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor, yesterday decided not to intervene in the construction of an aggregate Superhub in Cricklewood. It was open to him to directly refuse the application approved by Barnet Council or take it over himself.

The GLA report (see below) concludes that initial concerns have been addressed and that the application now conforms with the London Plan and the draft London Plan.

Intervention by the Secretary of State is now very unlikely and campaigners will be considering their next moves.

The Superhub was opposed by Fordych, Dollis Hill, Mapesbury and NorthWestTwo residents' associations.  Brent Council objected on highways and environmental grounds but 'noted that some concerns had been addressed following the submission of revised details.' Camden Council supported the application in principle but objected on amenity grounds.

There was cross-party opposition from GLA members:

Caroline Russell  (Green) – Objected to the proposals on the following grounds: committee voted in favour by a majority of one vote; transparency and objectivity; neighbouring boroughs of Brent and Camden have both objected to the proposals; the change in nature of the facility, from intermodal to aggregates / construction waste, was undertaken without public consultation; impact on well-being of residents in Barnet, Brent and Camden; air quality impacts; and traffic impacts. 

Caroline Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat)  – Objected on the following grounds: slim majority, with councillors voting along ‘party lines’; transparency; objections raised from Brent and Camden Councils; scheme will impact the well-being and amenity of residents in Barnet, Brent and Camden; air quality impacts; and traffic impacts. 


Navin Shah  (Labour) – Objected to the proposals due to the impact upon noise, dust, traffic, pollution and quality of life. 


Following the Mayour announcement Caroline Russell, Green Party Assembly Member for London, said:

I share the disappointment of Brent residents at the Mayor’s decision not to intervene in the granting of planning permission by Barnet Council for the Cricklewood Superhub in the Edgware Road. Although the Superhub is in Barnet it is nearby Brent residents who will pay the social cost in terms of extra heavy lorry danger noise and pollution. The decision is particularly disappointing because there was united, well-informed opposition  from local residents’ associations as well as from Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat London Assembly Members

Welsh Harp Spring Clean February 28th

From London Wildlife Trust

Event details

Sat, 24/02/2018 - 11:00am - 2:00pm

Help us clean up this special reservoir in north-west London, for the benefit of nature and wildlife.
Join London Wildlife Trust, Canal & River Trust, Phoenix Canoe Club and Thames21 as we come together to tackle litter on the Brent Reservoir SSSI.

Meet us at the builders’ lot by Cool Oak Lane Bridge (closest postcode is NW9 7BH). All safety equipment and refreshments are provided. Please dress appropriately.

Ths is a free event but please let us know that you intend to join - email ccullen@wildlondon.org.uk

Welsh Harp, also known as Brent Reservoir, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) notified for its breeding pairs of great crested grebe, overwintering waterfowl, and marginal vegetation. Read more here.

 Elsewere on the Welsh Harp a ramp has now been fitted to the bird hide

Brent Council's objections to Geron Way Waste Transfer Station

Despite several requests before Christmas to Brent Planning for a copy of the Letter of Objection sent to the London Borough of Barnet regarding the planning application for the waste transfer station at 2 Geron Way, Cricklewood, NW2 6GJ, I received no response from the officer concerned and the planning south office did not know of its existence. I looked on the Planning Portal of the London Borough of Barnet for a copy to no avail. It is clearly a problem that there is no reasonable access to the document in either borough.

4.1.18 Brent Council has now provided a much more legible copy of their objection letter to Barnet Council

Summary of Letter of Objection dated December 7th 2017

The London Borough of Brent objects in principle to the provision of a waste transfer station in this location, on the western side of the railway with vehicular access from Geron Way.

Impact on residential amenity and highways impact: Brent objects to the proposal on this ground. The impact on the highway network from the heavy goods traffic generated by the proposal is such that it would have an unacceptable impact on the flow of traffic, with consequent harm to the road network and amenity of residents in the area by reason of the environment created.

Traffic Volumes: The letter contains a detailed analysis and comments 'this results in an average daily total of 227 arrivals and 49 departures for the maximum 226,000 tonne capacity. This is about three times the number of Heavy Goods Vehicles surveyed accessing the existing site on Brent Terrace. Spread evenly over a 10 hour day, this would equate to 23 incoming loads and 5 outgoing loads per hour.  Flows would therefore total 56 two-way movements per hour which is a considerable increase over the existing HGV volumes. (More in document)

Environmental Impact: Brent is concerned that the proposal has not adequately demonstrated that there will not be an impact on environmental quality. In the event of an approval to ensure protection of the environment, the following conditions should be imposed:

Prior to the commencement of the development these matters should be submitted to and approved by the local planning authority and implemented as approved:

• plans for the continual assessment of emissions and maintenance of the air treatment system/odour abatement system of the enclosed waste transfer station
• a scheme to protect the occupants of neighbouring residential accommodation from high concentrations of air pollutants; any potential source of nuisance should be identified and incorporated in this scheme with a schedule of mitigation measures.' The schedule of mitigation shall include but not be limited to the impact upon noise vibration, dust, odour and any other emissions that may affect the general amenity of the neighbouring receptors. (More in document)

Greenpeace hail spoof Coca Cola ad success

The Kilburn Times LINK reports that Camden Greenpeace protested outside Brent Civic Centre today ahead of the Coca Cola truck's visit to the LDO tomorrow.

Greenpeace are campaigning against the soft drink company's use of plastic bottles that are poluting the world oceans. This is what they had to say about their Christmas campaign against Coca Cola:

At the top of Coca-Cola’s Christmas list is the warm glow of good PR. From the nationwide tour of its iconic red truck to the hyped release of its famous Holidays are Coming advert, Coke’s marketing has gone into overdrive. But this year the brand is sharing the spotlight with our ocean plastics campaign. We’ve been riding the wave of Coca-Cola’s relentless advertising – and being seen in all the right places.

We’ve been popping up to call on the world’s biggest soft drinks company – the maker of  3,400 plastic bottles a second – to do our oceans a festive favour and ditch throwaway plastic. In the UK alone, 16 million plastic bottles a day aren’t recycled and many of these end up in our oceans. A glitzy ad campaign won’t change that: we need Coca-Cola to take responsibility for its plastic packaging at every step.

So here’s how our spoof of a well-known Christmas ad has wormed its way into the heart of Coke’s precious PR push.

Owning the conversation the day Coke released its Holidays are Coming advert 

The challenge for us was, how do we hijack Coke’s PR push when we can’t compete with its advertising budget? We decided to gate-crash Coca-Cola’s release with our own video launch hours before. There’s an annual flurry of Christmas adverts by big brands like Coke and we wanted to see if we could nab a bit of their newsworthiness and reach a bigger audience by taking over the hashtag. And thanks to you it looks like we succeeded. According to Blurrt, 66% of the conversation about Coca-Cola on the day we launched was taken by tweets mentioning Greenpeace UK. When you followed #HolidaysAreComing you discovered, “Greenpeace UK released an advert the same day as Coca-Cola, calling them out for the amount of recyclable plastic bottles dumped into the ocean each year.” Win!

Marketing media love our ad 

We wanted our video to reach Coca-Cola’s PR team directly, and calculated that the best way to do that was to make something that their industry bible might feature. We wanted our parody to replicate the slickness of the original and look like it could be the real thing. And it paid off – we made headlines like Soft focus, subversive unease: how Greenpeace parodied the iconic Coca-Cola Christmas ad and Lower budgets, higher impact? Our Christmas panel on the charity campaigns cutting through the crowd. And now it looks like we might have actually taken Coke’s place. PR Week highlighted ours as one of the season’s best adverts and we’ve made it into their top five Christmas campaigns! The favourite is out to a public vote here.

A global campaign for a global brand 

So far we’ve had over 3.5 million views on Facebook worldwide. It’s been shared from Australia to Africa, in the US and New Zealand, in Turkey, Israel and Germany, and many more. We might just have taken the shine off Coca-Cola’s Christmas. We’ve definitely heaped on the pressure for Coke to start 2018 with a new year’s resolution to seriously curb its plastic habit.

Join us here.

Ditch the Dump! Dollis Hill protests at being made a 'rubbish sandwich' by Barnet Council

148 residents have objected to the locating of a waste transfer facility on the Edgware Road near residential properties and a school. The 'dump' is just within the Barnet boundary but will affect Brent residents. There are no comments support the proposal on the Barnet Council planning portal. LINK

Alison Hopkins has submitted the following comment:

I object in the strongest possible terms to this damaging and wholly unnecessary planning application. This is on the grounds of proximity to housing and schools, vastly increased traffic and congestion, air pollution and noise and environmental damage. 

Over the decades, we in Dollis Hill and Brent have been ignore and side-lined by Barnet Council. Our objections to the disastrous changes to road layouts, the massive increase in traffic, both cars and lorries on our roads, and to the destruction of our community by Barnet Council have been ignored.
There is no benefit to anyone living in Brent of ANY of your plans. Using the word regeneration to describe them is laughable if it were not so tragic. 

Barnet and its Brent Cross development partners have carried out a few so-called consultation exercise here. These have not only been meaningless, but have also resulted in the production of documentation which has gone from misleading to outright lies. 

The dump – and let’s not call it a waste transfer facility, that’s camouflage – is not needed. The only reason that the current WTF is being moved from the eastern side of the railway line is so that Barnet and the Brent Cross partners can build expensive housing with a high return to overseas and other investors. The current WTF is in a non-residential area and waste is moved out to landfill by train. Barnet claim that it’s not as bad as the original plans, as it’s “smaller”. Well, it’s far worse than the current dump, which at least makes some pretence to environmental care by using rail. However, the current dump also emits pollution and is a source of considerable stink to residents. 

These plans call for a WTF – dump, let’s use the word again! – on the doorstep s of thousands of homes in Brent, and across from an infant’s school. These are less than fifty metres away. And of course, the dump is also directly next door to the Fellows Place development, a major housing development recently given consent by Barnet. 

There will be thousands of heavy refuse trucks entering, and thousands leaving. The processing and compaction will cause noise and dust and dirt. Nano particulate pollution has been proven to cause the most damage to small children - those small children who will be forced be neighbours of the dump. 

The Edgware Road is already at the highest pollution levels in London. The refuse trucks and lorries will add to this.

Barnet propose to site this dump as far as possible from their residents as they can and as close to Brent as they can. It will not be their voters who suffer, it will be us. 

And, given that this waste goes to landfill and recycling plants well outside London, why on earth does it need to be so close in? The answer is that it doesn’t. it is sited to suit the Brent Cross development – that regeneration that means we get messed up roads and ruined neighbourhoods. 

The current WTF already causes a stink in warm weather which can be smelled from some distance away – moving it to close proximity to homes and schools is utterly unacceptable. 

What is also horrifying is the fire risk: I quote from the Chief Fire Officers Association: “Waste fires are a consistent issue for the waste and recycling industry, with the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) estimating that there have been around 250 incidents of waste fires per year for the last decade, with an estimated cost to fire and rescue services of around £16 million a year.” The proposed dump is directly opposite two petrol stations. 

The North London Waste Authority themselves originally opposed this site on the grounds of proximity of schools and houses. Those houses and schools haven’t moved, so why the sudden withdrawal of those objections? 

Between this dump and the massive aggregate crushing plant proposed for a few hundred yards further south, we in Brent are a rubbish sandwich. Barnet need to LISTEN to us, not ignore us!

 Another resident comments:

Yet another senseless proposal by Barnet Council for the creation of a rubbish dump, coincidentally located at the very edge of the council limits. The location of the planned waste dump is also just outside the Low Emission Bus Zones announced by the Mayor of London LINK. Just in time, improvements in air quality introduced by this low emission zone will be immediately counteracted by a step increase in the number of HGV coming in and out of the proposed dump. Good job Barnet Council, you are continuing to actively work against the best interest of your tax payers and those from neighbouring councils.

For these reasons, I object to this application. Hopefully the committee will have some common sense and will put the health of tax payers ahead of other interests.

To comment go to LINK

HGV and dust nightmare on Wembley High Road

In a comment on the Heron House development local resident Jaine Lunn also commented on the impact of redevelopment works on High Road Wembley on residents and provided photographic evidence:

The work at Brent House development is causing a massive amount of chaos. The traffic management plan is bloody useless. We have HGV's parked on both sides of the High Road, and in the bus lane, on the pavements, last week I had 3 parked in my street, on the pavement engines running idling for over 30 minutes at a time. The footprint of the site is so small, they have a huge crane, piling thing, and a minimum of 20 lorries a day picking up rubbish and delivering plant and cement. When Chesterfield House gets going God knows how the High Road is going to cope. As I stated before 8 sites within 500 metres of my house. The dust and pollution is so bad I cannot open the windows.

 

Reminder: Clean Air in Brent Public Meeting July 6th

Air pollution campaign group, Clean Air for Brent, and Brent Council are holding a public meeting, “The Air We Breathe: how pollution is affecting us and what we can do about it”, on Thursday 6th July at 7-9pm at Brent Civic Centre in Wembley.

Speakers include world-renowned health expert Prof. Sir Michael Marmot (UCL & Harvard) , Simon Birkett, Director of Clean Air in London, Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Cabinet Member for the Environment, Brent Council, and Elliot Treharne, Air Quality Manager, GLA. Hywel Lloyd of think tank IPPR will be chairing an interactive panel discussion.

Air pollution contributes to poor health and is responsible for premature death. In 2016 there were 1,810 deaths on Great Britain's roads, yet nearly 9,500 people die early each year in London due to long-term exposure to air pollution, with 112 early deaths in Brent in 2010. It is linked with cancer, strokes, heart disease and respiratory problems. The main pollutants are nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, particularly from diesel vehicles, being most harmful. The principal source of air pollution in Brent is road traffic, though emissions from heating systems also contribute.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Cabinet Member for the Environment, Brent Council said:

This event will raise the profile of air pollution across Brent and the serious impact it has on all of our lives. It's great to see residents and community groups coming together to improve things, in partnership with the Council. We can all make small changes by choosing to walk, cycle, turn our engines off and choose not to buy diesel vehicles; and by working together I believe we can make a real difference to the quality of air we breathe in Brent.

Fiona Mulaisho from Clean Air for Brent added:

Air pollution knows no boundaries, and it is not halted by tawdry promises. No one is safe from it, regardless of where you live, work and play. With thousands of unnecessary deaths and life threatening illnesses caused every year, that's why it's important for people to get involved in the fight against air pollution, - today's deadly public health crisis. This meeting will be a chance to question the experts, learn what our authorities are doing locally about air pollution, and find out what we can all do.

Clean Air for Brent is a coalition of residents' associations and community groups focused on raising awareness and changing behaviours to improve air quality in Brent for all our health.

The event is taking place on Thursday 6th July, at 7-9pm at the Conference Hall, Brent Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ. The Civic Centre is five minutes walk from Wembley Park tube station. Please use public transport.

This is a free event – all are welcome to attend. Doors open from 6.30pm for light refreshments and stalls. The meeting starts at 7pm.

Register for free tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-air-we-breathe-tickets-35136212357 , at www.cleanairforbrent.wordpress.com or email cafbrent@gmail.com.

'The air we breathe' special Brent meeting on July 6th

Brent Council and new coalition group, Clean Air for Brent, are inviting everyone to a high-profile public meeting "The Air We Breathe: how  pollution is affecting us and what we can do about it" at Brent Civic Centre, Thursday 6th July, 7-9pm. Speakers to include world-renowned health expert Sir Michael Marmot and Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London. Inter-active discussion with a panel and news of what we can do locally. Please join us.

Tickets can be booked here: Tickets for 'The Air we Breathe'

or using this URL HERE  Enquiries cafbrent@gmail.com cafbrent@gmail.com

Illness and premature death will result from Government's ineffective Clean Air Strategy

From the Greener Jobs Alliance

Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union Council (BWTUC) slammed the Government newly published plans to improve air quality as being totally ineffective and that they will utterly fail to remove dangerous pollutants from the air in Wandsworth.

The Government were forced to produce an Air Quality plan for consultation by the courts this month. They had tried to use the election as a reason to delay publication but this was rejected by the Court.

Graham Petersen, spokesperson for BWTUC, said,

If this document represents their vision of how the public will be protected from air pollution it is no surprise they wanted to keep it under wraps.

If this is how you respond to the Number 0ne public health hazard then the Conservative Party have lost all credibility on this important issue. Instead of providing clear leadership from central government, control measures have largely been delegated to local authorities. This wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t the same government that have stripped local government finances to the bone. A public health emergency that claims the lives of around 40,000 people every year requires a clear national direction.

People in Wandsworth are in the front-line of toxic air. We have the most polluted street in Europe – Putney High St. Levels in some parts of the borough show over 2 twice the legal limit of 40ug/m³ for nitrogen dioxide. In April, the Wandsworth Guardian quoted a report that showed 29 schools in the borough located in areas exceeding the safe legal limit.   Wandsworth Council’s own Air Quality Action Plan identified the importance of a campaign ‘to national government towards a non-diesel economy’ as a priority action. If they are serious about this then the Council should join us in condemning these inadequate proposals.

BWTUC believes that new statutory duties are required under a Clean Air Act that provides a national plan covering low emission zones, clean energy public transport provision, and duties on manufacturers and employers.

Currently businesses pay a fraction of what it costs the NHS to treat victims of toxic air. Yet it is employers that are the root cause of diesel emissions from their transport fleet as well as the individual work journeys to and from work made by their staff.

That is why BWTUC believe that air quality is a workplace issue. It is also why we provide funding for awareness raising initiatives like the Greener Jobs Alliance training modules on Air Quality which will be launched at the end of the month.

It is clearly now a political issue in this election. The Government have shown they have no effective strategy. This is not strong leadership, it is passing the buck, and relying on a voluntary approach that will not deliver on the scale required.

What you can do for Clean Air for Brent

From Transition Willesden

Clean Air for Brent is a coalition of local residents' groups, Transition Towns, Friends of the Earth and the Council to improve air quality in the borough.  We met earlier this week, and are keen to involve people in having their say on air quality in Brent and also on diesel vehicles, especially in view of the results from our pollution monitoring in October.

Last October we carried out air pollution monitoring in Willesden, Dollis Hill and Cricklewood, and found 7 out of 10 sites were above the EU legal limit for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), with Cricklewood Broadway being well over twice the limit (see maps here and here).  For more about the project see our online group.

Brent Council is consulting residents and businesses on its Air Quality Action Plan for the next 5 years.  You have until Thursday 30th March to add your comments. Please take a little time to read the plan and respond to the survey online here.  You can also email feedback to ens.monitoring@brent.gov.uk

If you have less time, please sign one or more of these petitions against diesel.  It is largely the increase in diesel vehicles that is having such an impact on the air we breathe:

-Ditch diesel in the UK by Friends of the Earth

-One directed at car companies from Greenpeace.

-You can also write to MEPs asking them to clean up vehicle testing.  They will be voting on this issue on 5th April.