Greens Get Crowd Funding For New Air Quality Monitors

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Claim pollution along Golden Mile is set for further deterioration

New air monitors are to be installed in local pollution hot spots after the Green party crowd funded their purchase.

Many residents chipped in to the enable the installation of the the third round of air pollution monitors targeting the A4/M4 corridor including sites in Brentford, Chiswick and Isleworth. They were prompted to extend the number of monitoring sites, following-up on results from last summer which showed readings above EU limits. The large new developments planned along the Golden Mile - that extends from Chiswick to Osterley - and a third runway are expected to have significant adverse effects on already bad quality air.

Hounslow Council recently consulted on a development plan for the Golden Mile which is proposing to accelerate the planning permission process for the area.

The air pollution monitors has been sourced from Mapping for Change, a citizen’s science project that works with groups and organisations who want to understand, improve and produce information about the places that matter to them.

The monitors are for NO2, nitrogen dioxide, a particulate that is found on diesel, gasoil from cars and planes. The monitors are located along the A4/M4 corridor from Sutton Court Road to the GSK building, they will stay up for a month and then be analysed by University College London.

Andree Frieze, Green Party candidate to the London Assembly for South West London said at the launch: “Hounslow has been a car friendly borough for years, it is on Heathrow’s flight path, it is compulsively giving away parks and green spaces to development and lacks investment on rail and cycling. It is no surprise the air quality is so bad on traffic saturated roads to central London and Heathrow”. He continued: “Most European capitals have cleaned their public transport fleets and London is lagging behind, we need action now, and only the Green Party can clean up London’s public transport by 2020”.

This week a joint report published by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health demands urgent action on air pollution. The report called Every Breath We Take reads: “Vulnerable people are prisoners of air pollution, having to stay indoors and limit their activity when pollution levels are high. This is not only unjust; it carries a cost to these individuals and the community from missed work and school, from more health problems due to lack of exercise, and from social isolation. Taking action will reduce pain, suffering and demands on the NHS, while getting people back to work, learning, and an active life. The value of these benefits far exceeds the cost of reducing emissions”.

March 4, 2016