London Schools Pollution Helpdesk to launch next year

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced new plans to clean up air at schools in the worst polluted areas of the capital.

Measures introduced by the Mayor prior to the Covid-19 pandemic have already cut the number of state schools with illegal levels of pollution by 97 per cent – from 455 schools in 2016 to just 14 in 2019.

A new London Schools Pollution Helpdesk will start in the new year, and will support London schools to deliver air quality audits and will prioritise the remaining schools in areas still exceeding or nearly exceeding legal pollution levels.

Audit recommendations for measures to help cut pollution could include closing surrounding roads to traffic at school pick-up and drop-off times, walking and scooting campaigns, adding green infrastructure like green screens and tackling engine idling.

This will build on the Mayor’s School and Nursery Air Quality Audits Programme which has delivered audits at 50 schools and 20 nurseries across the capital’s most polluted areas. Global Action Plan will be co-ordinating the Schools Forum developed to support the audit programme in order to share best practice. The charity recently launched the Clean Air Schools Framework that helps any school to work out which air pollution actions are best for them as part of a clean air action plan. It provides guidance and resources to help implement the plan, building on the knowledge from the Mayor’s audit programme and will complement the London Schools Pollution Helpdesk being announced today.   

Transport for London has funded 430 new School Streets – where roads surrounding schools are closed to motor traffic at drop-off and pick-up times – across London through its Streetspace plan to help avoid a damaging car-led recovery from coronavirus. Over 300 of these have already been delivered in 23 boroughs across London. The Mayor has also commissioned a study monitoring the air quality benefits at some of these new School Streets

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I am doing everything in my power to stop Londoners breathing air so filthy that it damages children’s lungs and causes thousands of premature deaths every year. The Ultra Low Emission Zone has already cut toxic air by a third and led to reductions in roadside nitrogen dioxide that are five times greater than the national average.

“Since 2016, there has been a 97 per cent reduction in the number of schools in areas which exceed the legal limit, and I’m committed to bringing that number down to zero
 
“We know there is still more to do. Pollution isn’t just a central London problem, which is why I am committed to expanding the ULEZ next year. I have also consistently demanded that the Government match my ambitions and improve the new Environment Bill to include legally binding WHO recommended limits to be achieved by 2030, and to give cities the powers we need to eradicate air pollution.”