London Mayor announces £1m to protect pupils from pollution

Some of London’s most polluted primary schools will share a new £1 million fund from the Mayor of London, following detailed air quality audits in 50 schools across 23 London boroughs.

The audits assessed the air quality in some of the capital’s worst polluted schools and have made a series of recommendations to protect pupils. These include major infrastructure measures, such as closing roads or moving playgrounds and school entrances, as well as targeting indoor pollution using improved ventilation systems, and installing green ‘pollution barrier’ hedges, tackling engine idling outside schools and promoting cycling and walking.

The fund includes £500,000 to deliver non-transport interventions at all 50 audited schools; £300,000 to deliver green infrastructure at any London school located in an area exceeding legal pollution limits (from the Greener City Fund), and; £250,000 to launch a new nursery audit programme that will trial filtration systems to reduce indoor air pollution at 20 of the most polluted nurseries in the most polluted areas.

The audits were conducted by global engineering consultancy WSP, who spent three months in schools assessing indoor and outdoor air pollution sources, looking at how students travel to school, and reviewing local walking routes including traffic crossings.

The Mayor’s new £1 million fund will provide each of the 50 audited schools with a £10,000 starter grant and enable any of the other London schools located in areas exceeding legal air pollution limits to apply for green infrastructure funding.

Today, the Mayor has published a report today by University College London and the University of Cambridge assessing indoor air quality at five London primary schools and one nursery. It found differences in pollution levels between classrooms depending on a range of factors, including building characteristics, design and maintenance. A significant proportion of indoor air pollution is due to outdoor air pollution.

For NO2, which was strongly related to the risk of asthma attacks and asthmatic symptoms, outdoor sources accounted for 84 per cent of the variation between classrooms, highlighting the importance of tackling emissions from road traffic (including through measures such the Ultra-Low Emission Zone) and preventing it from entering the building.

The findings suggested that the protection offered by the building increased the further away it was from the busiest roads and that airtight buildings may offer greater protection. The report also found that in most classrooms annual exposure to small particles was higher than recommended World Health Organization guidelines, although this was caused by a combination of indoor and outdoor sources.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “City Hall are also offering funding to the 50 audited schools - as well as other schools and nurseries located in high-pollution areas - to help them make immediate changes.

“Air pollution is a national health crisis that is putting the health of children at risk. The Government must step up and act with more urgency if we are going to tackle London’s filthy air once and for all.”

The see the full list of primary schools who are receiving audits click here

Today (Thursday) the Mayor visited St Mary’s Bryanston Square Primary School in Westminster, close to the busy Marylebone Road, where staff have already started working with City Hall, Transport for London and Westminster Council to implement some of their audit recommendations. Improvements at St Mary’s include installing and testing a new filtration system to reduce pollution inside the school. This is being delivered with £20,000 in new funding from the Mayor and Westminster Council.

Photo: Dave McGowan from the Londonist Flickr pool