The air quality around Finchley Road is a serious matter of concern. Camden is required to submit a report to DEFRA each year, identifying trends in air pollution levels from all our monitoring sites.
PM10 (particulates) and NO2 levels are particularly high on the Finchley Road due to the significant levels of heavy goods traffic using this road. These breach government air quality objectives (not in fact uncommon in London) and were actually getting worse from 2004-7, though there has recently been a slight improvement.
The main monitoring station is located on the Finchley Road kerbside, so measurements will be elevated. The council also has nitrogen dioxide diffusion tubes located in residential areas around Swiss Cottage and Hampstead – many of these in fact also breach the Government's annual mean air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide, though obviously the further away a monitoring site is from a busy road the lower the NO2 levels will be.
Improving air quality is a priority for the Council and we have produced a new Air Quality Action Plan which will soon be publicly available. Unfortunately Camden has no direct control over traffic management on the Finchley Road, as this road is the responsibility of TfL. Finchley Road does fall within the London Low Emissions Zone and there should now be progressive reductions in PM10 and NOx emissions from heavy good vehicles using this road. Also, TfL are cleaning up their taxi and bus fleet, with the whole bus fleet being converted to hybrid buses over the next few years. The Mayor's new Transport Strategy and Air Quality Strategy will also be published over the next 12 months. Both this and Camden's plan will include measures to reduce traffic, improve vehicle emissions and increase sustainable transport which should help reduce air pollution levels.
PM10 (particulates) and NO2 levels are particularly high on the Finchley Road due to the significant levels of heavy goods traffic using this road. These breach government air quality objectives (not in fact uncommon in London) and were actually getting worse from 2004-7, though there has recently been a slight improvement.
The main monitoring station is located on the Finchley Road kerbside, so measurements will be elevated. The council also has nitrogen dioxide diffusion tubes located in residential areas around Swiss Cottage and Hampstead – many of these in fact also breach the Government's annual mean air quality objective for nitrogen dioxide, though obviously the further away a monitoring site is from a busy road the lower the NO2 levels will be.
Improving air quality is a priority for the Council and we have produced a new Air Quality Action Plan which will soon be publicly available. Unfortunately Camden has no direct control over traffic management on the Finchley Road, as this road is the responsibility of TfL. Finchley Road does fall within the London Low Emissions Zone and there should now be progressive reductions in PM10 and NOx emissions from heavy good vehicles using this road. Also, TfL are cleaning up their taxi and bus fleet, with the whole bus fleet being converted to hybrid buses over the next few years. The Mayor's new Transport Strategy and Air Quality Strategy will also be published over the next 12 months. Both this and Camden's plan will include measures to reduce traffic, improve vehicle emissions and increase sustainable transport which should help reduce air pollution levels.
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