London,
20
September
2022
|
12:33
Europe/London

Camden’s air is getting cleaner

Camden Council’s latest annual report into air quality in the borough shows that its air is getting cleaner.

The report, which is available to read in full on the Council’s website, shows:

  • Annual average nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels reduced at 28 of Camden’s 40 monitoring sites over 2020-2021.
  • Busy roads including Kentish Town Road and Camden Road are now within legal limits for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels.
  •  An average 50% reduction in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels across all monitoring sites across the last decade.
  • Particulate matter (PM) air pollution measured at the Bloomsbury, Euston Road and Swiss Cottage automatic monitoring sites has declined by an average of 36% since 2011.

The Council now wants to build on this progress as it launches a consultation on its new Clean Air Action Plan for 2022-2026.

Councillor Adam Harrison, Cabinet member for a Sustainable Camden

“We are delivering on our commitments to clean up Camden’s air – but know we must do much more to achieve our ambition of meeting World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines by 2034, which go beyond the legal limits. We need to go further because we know there is no safe level of air pollution.

“Good air quality is vital for our health. And research out just this month from the Francis Crick Institute here in Camden is a sharp reminder of this, as it has revealed how air pollution can cause lung cancer even among people who have never smoked.

“To address this, we need to make some big changes, such as ditching polluting vehicles for greener and healthier modes of transport, including walking and cycling wherever possible, tackling pollution from construction, and reducing the amount of pollution that comes from heating buildings.

“I urge residents to have their say and help us make further progress to clean up our air.”

Councillor Adam Harrison, Cabinet member for a Sustainable Camden

The consultation on Camden’s Clean Air Action Plan 2022-2026 is open for comment until open until midnight on Sunday, 16 October 2022.

Further information

The Clean Air Action Plan lists a range of outcomes for cleaner air and improved health in Camden, and the actions that we will take to achieve these over the next four years.

The outcomes for cleaner air and protecting health are categorised under seven key themes:

  • Reducing emissions from construction and development
  • Reducing emissions from buildings
  • Reducing emissions from transport
  • Supporting communities and schools
  • Indirect emissions and lobbying (reducing emissions from sources outside our direct control)
  • Public health and awareness
  • Indoor air quality and occupational exposure