MD2096 Programmes to reduce public exposure to air pollution

Improving air quality is a public health priority. Air pollution is contributing to over 9,000 premature deaths caused by long-term exposure. There is also strong scientific evidence of the acute health effects of short-term exposure to very high levels of pollution, like those experienced during an air pollution episode. It is essential that coordinated action is taken to reduce exposure, especially amongst the most vulnerable such as school children and the elderly.

Since being elected the Mayor has already taken action to tackle pollution. He has also introduced a new system of air quality alerts to reduce exposure. These alerts warn Londoners during moderate, high and very high periods of air pollution, providing messages and information through social media, online and on TfL assets like bus countdown signs. The GLA currently obtains forecasts from the existing free services provided by airTEXT and King’s College London. These are monitored by GLA staff, including on a voluntary basis on evenings and over the weekend. Given the growing expectation from Londoners for information on air quality the GLA requires a higher level of technical support and out of hours cover, including a Duty Forecaster, to ensure that the Mayor is issuing the right information in a timely fashion to Londoners on a consistent basis.

To tackle exposure specifically by primary school children, who are often the most vulnerable to the effects of air pollution, the Mayor has announced a new Schools Air Quality Audit Project. Under the new scheme, 50 primary schools will receive a detailed audit, carried out by an experienced transport and environment consultancy, which will review ways to lower emissions and reduce exposure of London’s primary school children to NO2 on their journey to and from school.

The Audits will identify the most effective local solutions to improve air quality and reduce exposure by understanding the travel behaviour of parents/carers, children, staff and other suppliers/services visiting the school and assessing the quality and accessibility of the physical environment surrounding the school. Examples of solutions could include running active travel promotion and ‘no engine-idling’ campaigns around the schools, installing green infrastructure, for example trees to ‘shield’ walking routes or more significant changes to road layouts. By engaging with the borough and school community, the audits will also increase awareness about local air pollution. The funding for this scheme is coming from TfL.

The Mayor wants to use the planning system to ensure that all new developments meet ‘air quality neutral’ standards and has asked officers to develop proposals for a new, stronger ‘air quality positive’ standard to build in reductions in emissions and exposure as part of the opportunity area planning framework process and for Housing Zones etc. These (and other) policies require expert technical support to design, implement and monitor. There are also an increasing number of major infrastructure schemes (Silvertown Crossing, Heathrow etc) which require specialist advice and input to inform GLA decision-making.

In May 2016 a new system of statutory London Local Air Quality Management was adopted. This new system puts in place a coherent London-wide structure for monitoring, reporting, and tackling air pollution at borough level. It reduces the administrative burden on London boroughs but required the GLA to provide a range of tools, data and other support.

Schools Air Quality Audit Programme

Objectives

• Help reduce exposure of primary schoolchildren to NO2 on the journey to and from School in the 23 boroughs that contain at least one primary school over the EU limit for NO2.
• Raise public awareness of the impacts of poor air quality on children’s’ short and long term health and well-being.
• Engage school communities (children parents/carers/governors and ward councillors) in a programme that considers and adopts, as far as practicable, the recommendations of the audits.
• Engage the London boroughs and other relevant stakeholders through the provision of recommendations, guidance, support and best practice seek to influence Boroughs to adopt and implement measures that will reduce exposure to poor air quality for primary school aged children on the journey to school.

Expected outcomes

• The wider school community at all 50 audited schools are better educated, more informed and engaged on air quality in their local area. There is a greater understanding of the potential health risks of exposure to poor air quality and the best ways to reduce exposure to it as well reducing their own contribution to it.
• Participating Boroughs to have adopted and implemented the recommendations detailed in the audit reports.
• Opportunities provided to reduce levels of exposure to NO2 for pupils on their journey to and from school at audited schools.
• Participating Boroughs and schools to have shared best practice with all boroughs and schools in London by producing best practice guidance, sharing their achievements via TfL’s STARS programme and presenting at appropriate forums such as ‘Pan London’ Borough officer events and Urban Design London events etc.
• Boroughs and other relevant stakeholders to adopt and roll out the audit programme to additional schools/boroughs.

Forecast and duty forecaster service

Objectives

• Provide accurate and timely air pollution forecasts.
• Provide direct alerts to schools, hospitals and care homes across London.
• Provide information and advice to help organisations and individuals respond to high pollution incidents.
• Appointment of a duty external air quality forecasting expert to ensure timely information and support is provided to the Mayor, GLA/TfL officers and other public bodies, including ensuring consistency of public messaging from providers like King’s College London, airTEXT and on the GLA’s own website.

Outcomes

• Increased preparedness and resilience by Londoners, particularly of those most impacted by poor air quality
• Improved collaboration between statutory bodies to ensure joined up messaging particular to schools, hospitals and care homes.
• A more informed public as a result of the improved communication such as the airTEXT website.

Technical support call-on contract

Objectives

• Provide technical modelling, planning and policy support to the Air Quality Team
• Review technically complex planning applications to ensure that ‘air quality neutral’, and if appropriate ‘air quality positive’, are fully incorporated into the proposed development.
• Provide additional support as required in the design and development of Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks (OAPFs), Housing Zones etc.
• Provide specialist technical advice and input to manage and mitigate the potential air quality impacts of major infrastructure, such as Silvertown Crossing and Heathrow.
• Monitor implementation, effectiveness and resulting air quality benefits of policies like ‘air quality positive’ to inform the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and other reporting.
• Provide advice and support in relation to the execution of the Mayor’s statutory London Local Air Quality Management duties.

Outcomes

• An ambitious and tested suite of policies to be included in the London Plan to improve air quality in the built environment.
• Developments which fulfil the air quality requirements set out in the London Plan, contributing to a reduction in emissions and reduced public exposure.
• A strategic approach to major infrastructure, OAPFs and Housing Zones ensuring signature mayoral developments maximise the opportunities to improve air quality.
• Successful execution and fulfilment of the Mayor’s statutory London Local Air Quality Management duties.

The GLA has recently published an analysis on exposure to air pollution undertaken by Aether which shows that not only are there huge health impacts of pollution but the way these fall on the most vulnerable means that improving air quality is fundamentally about tackling social injustice.

The updated report considers pollution exposure in London in 2013 and considers how exposure varies by age, indicators of relative deprivation and ethnic groups in London. It also looks at total exposure (broken down by borough) and exposure at schools. Through the research described in this report, City Hall is seeking to understand inequalities in access to clean air in London and to consider how this will be improved by planned air pollution controls.

The research shows on average that the most deprived 10th of the population are exposed to concentrations of NO2 which are 25 per cent higher than the least deprived 10th of the population. It is important to note that hidden within this you also have pockets of extreme wealth with very high levels of exposure, e.g. those living in Westminster or in Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

In terms of ethnicity, whereas there is a normal distribution of exposure for ‘white’ people, the pattern shows increasing exposure in areas that have higher percentage of non-white ethnic groups, with a particularly skewed distribution for the Black/African/Caribbean/Black British population. A greater proportion of mixed, black and other ethnic groups are exposed to levels of pollution that exceed the NO2 limit value than their proportion of the total population.

For schools, in 2013, there were 802 educational institutions serving young people which exceeded legal NO2 limits, of which 360 were primary schools and 78 were secondary schools. Note: In the previous study published in 2010 it was found that, there were 1777 primary schools in London of which 433 were in locations where average concentrations exceed the NO2 EU limit value. Of these 433 primary schools, 82% were deprived schools. By contrast, of the 1344 primary schools that were not exposed to above EU limit values of NO2, 39% were deprived.

The design of the policies set out in this MD will benefit all Londoners, but due to the unequal impacts of pollution on the most vulnerable Londoners there is likely to be a positive effect in tackling social and health inequality of this programme of activity.

Impact assessment

4.1 In June 2016 the Mayor undertook a consultation with Londoners which explored the ideas included in this. Around 15,000 Londoners participated in the biggest response to a GLA Talk London consultation exercise. In particular, there was overwhelming support for providing the right information to Londoners to reduce exposure to pollution.

4.2 A comprehensive Integrated Impact Assessment is now being undertaken to support the London Environment Strategy which will cover air quality. This is expected to be published in Spring 2016. However, given the need to take urgent action to reduce exposure and protect public health it is proposed that delivery commences in parallel with the strategy and impact assessment process.

4.3 As a rough indication of the potential reach of the alerts, the numbers of schools, hospitals and care homes currently in London are as follows:

4.4 Maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools: 3,307 organisations; 1,246,539 pupils (GLA Datastore) Care homes: 754 care homes, c.22,500 residents (ONS 2011 census) Hospitals: 247 hospitals (UKMap).

Links to Mayoral Strategies

4.5 Tackling air pollution is one of the Mayor’s top priorities and is covered in detail in the Mayor’s manifesto. A City for all Londoners has started the process of translating the manifesto into the formal statutory strategies adopted by the Mayor. These include a commitment to providing enhanced information to Londoners, taking action to improve air quality in and around schools and using the planning system to improve air quality in the built environment.

Approval is being sought for expenditure of up to £700,000 to procure forecasting and technical support services for Air Quality Programmes.

The contract will be procured over four financial years from 2017-18 to 2018-19 with a break clause each year.

The proposed expenditure will be funded from the Air Quality budget in the relevant years.

In addition, this report is seeking the receipt of income from Transport for London totalling £250,000 to be carried forward to 2017-18 to fund the procurement of consultants for the Schools Air Quality Audits Project.

The Schools Air Quality Project, forecasting service and related technical work for which expenditure approval is sought facilitate the Mayor’s responsibilities for air quality in London together with his role in London’s Local Air Quality Management system and are authorised under section 30 and 34 of the GLA Act 1999.

Officers must ensure that the procurement activity is undertaken through the TfL Commercial team and that the applicable contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the GLA before the commencement of the services.