On Air: Interview with Islington’s Paul Clift

After the successful Camden & Islington air quality summit earlier this month we caught up with co-organiser Paul Clift to get his thoughts on how the summit had gone and also hear about some of the new initiatives in Islington including the groundbreaking borough-wide 20mph zone.


(KCL) - What lead you to working in the air quality field?
(PC) - Post graduation in the early 90’s I started my career dealing with air quality management & pollution control, inspecting some fairly major industrial processes such as the Ford tractor plant. After that I moved to Islington and spent some time in a specialist housing team as a generalist officer (when Islington had neighbourhood offices) before returning to pollution control work about 8 years ago.

(KCL) - The joint Camden & Islington air quality summit earlier this month was very successful, were you expecting such a high turnout?
(PC) - I thought the turn out and interest from the public who attended the event was fantastic. We had hoped for a good turnout and had really pushed the event through all the relevant channels, but actually seeing the Council Chamber as full as that was really encouraging and very positive.
The presentations and stalls all added to the excellent event (thanks to everyone) and it was really well managed by colleagues at Camden. We're now talking with Camden to decide on how to build on this success and take it forward.

(KCL) - Islington Council is about to introduce a borough-wide 20mph limit. Can you tell us how this came about and what effect you think it might have on Islington’s air quality?
(PC) - This is an exciting initiative with Islington becoming the first borough in the country with a 20mph speed limit on all side roads.
The main aims of the project are to boost safety for pedestrians, cyclists and road users (the number of people killed or seriously injured on Islington's roads fell from 227 in 2001 to 77 in 2009, thought to be partly as a result of lower speeds) but we're also expecting to improve quality of life for local residents by reducing noise and air pollution.
Islington will be assessing the local changes and perhaps by reducing the speeds and improving or changing people’s perception of road safety, we'll encourage plenty of modal shift.
Living Streets and the road safety charity Brake have supported and worked with us on the scheme with Living Streets commenting of the benefits of 'safe and vibrant places.. not just corridors for traffic', which I think is something we can all relate to in our communities.

(KCL) - What other projects are you working on at the moment?
(PC) - I'm working on a few exciting projects with airTEXT at the moment to accompany my continuing search for long term funding for the project! Those in the airTEXT consortium will know of the efforts that we go to in keeping the project running from year to year.
airTEXT is a partner in Joaquin (joint air quality initiative) which is part of an EU North West Europe project called INTERREG. The work package we're involved with is looking to implement and evaluate measures to improve urban air quality.
The work package includes low emission zones in Antwerp and Amsterdam; traffic lights sequencing in Leicester; a clean bus tender project in the district of Holland and the airTEXT hotspot project here in London.
We're currently discussing the project with the Greater London Authority and Transport for London to see if we can use the airTEXT forecasts (perhaps with an extended forecasting period) to trigger a London 'Spare the Air' campaign. Spare the air has been a great success in the San Francisco Bay area and it would be great if Londoners could be engaged in the same way to bring about air quality improvement here.
The recent Environmental Audit Commission commented on the importance of public engagement and public participation, 'The public are also a key player in the delivery of cleaner air' and this project could be the beginnings of something very positive.

(KCL) - What do you think the future holds for air quality in London?
(PC) - I feel optimistic that the profile of air pollution is increasing, particularly the health impacts and we may reach a critical mass of attention from the air quality community, public health colleagues and the public to drive and demand change.
There are changes at local level in public health, which may bring about closer working arrangements between people working in public health and air quality management (perhaps through the health and well being boards or JSNA) and with references in the department of health outcomes framework document to life years lost from fine dust as measured by fine particulate matter combined with the work of COMEAP, the EAC & the wider air quality community, the focus on driving air quality improvements does seem to be there.

Our thanks to Paul for speaking to us this month.

Full video of the summit including links to all the presentations is available here.
The summit was covered widely in local London papers and some reports are linked to in the ‘From the web’ section below.

Environmental Audit Committee Report

On the 14th of November the Environmental Audit Committee published its second report into air quality in the UK.
The committee heard evidence from expert witnesses in June and July, including testimony from King’s Professor Frank Kelly.
This was a follow up to the committee’s first report which was published in March 2010.

In their summary the committee concluded that:
"The Government has failed to get to grips with this issue. Most of the measures set out in its response to our predecessors' report are yet to be brought in. Forty out of the UK’s 43 assessment zones are failing to meet EU targets and poor air quality is now found to be shortening the lives of up to 200,000 people by an average of 2 years. The Government must not continue to put the health of the nation at risk."

The report made several recommendations which are detailed in the full report.
The report was covered widely in the press, some of the stories are linked to in the ‘From the web’ section below.

New Air Quality Index

Defra and the Devolved Administrations will be implementing a new air quality index for the UK from 1st January 2012.
The new Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) follows a review by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP) who were asked to look at the existing index to ensure that it is fit for purpose given developments in the field of air quality.
COMEAP published their report Review of the UK Air Quality Index in June 2011. Defra and the Devolved Administrations have considered the report’s recommendations and proposed several changes to the index.

The changes include:
1. Updated health advice to accompany the DAQI to provide more focused and clearer information.
2. Changes to the index bands (Low, Moderate, High, Very High) for particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) to make them more stringent.
3. Inclusion of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the DAQI.
4. Removal of carbon monoxide (CO) from the DAQI in view of the dramatic reductions in outdoor concentrations of CO.
5. Changes to the presentation of the index with colour coding to aid the interpretation of the DAQI.
6. Inclusion of trigger values to allow for the prediction of episodes of elevated air pollution in real time as they emerge.
7. Information about the long-term health effects of air pollution will be provided with the index.

Read Defra’s notification letter here.
Read the original COMEAP report here.

London Air Chrome extension passes 3000 user mark

The new London Air Google Chrome extension has passed 3000 active users in the month since its release.
The application provides notifications of pollution events across the London network every hour and also allows users to dip in easily to check the latest air quality levels where they are.
We were delighted to have been chosen by Google to be featured on the front page of the Chrome web store. The web store front page is a prime location for users seeking out new extensions and this exposure sees the London Air extension sitting alongside applications from the BBC, Google, Tesco and of course Angry Birds.

If you haven't already installed our newest creation you can download it from the link below.

Marylebone Road monitoring site gets a facelift

King’s long-standing air pollution observatory on the Marylebone Road has recently been upgraded.
Over the last 15 years, this facility has been the cornerstone of our understanding in the UK of air pollution concentrations close to roads, and the effect that these have on human health. An injection of funds to enlarge the facility and broaden the range of measurements was provided by the NERC ClearfLo and NERC/MRC Traffic projects.

Internal upgrades include the addition of an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, which will analyse the chemical composition of individual particles, and additional space for pioneering field based toxicological analysis by the lung biology group at King’s.
Upgrading the outside to improve the visual impact of the site was funded by Defra and was designed by Sarah Wigglesworth Architects.

New monitoring site in Hammersmith & Fulham

Hammersmith & Fulham Council have opened a new roadside monitoring site on the west side of Shepherds Bush Green measuring nitrogen oxides and PM10 particulate by TEOM.
This new roadside unit replaces the Council’s two monitoring stations, previously located at Hammersmith Broadway and Brook Green, which were closed in 2009.
The real-time data collected at the new site will complement the NO2 data collected at 10 other sites in the borough via diffusion tube.

Professor Frank Kelly interviewed on BBC World Service One Planet programme

Following Dr Thomas Kuhlbusch’s interview with the BBC last month, Environmental Research Group director Professor Frank Kelly stepped out onto the streets of London to speak to the BBC’s World Service One Planet programme in November. The programme compares air pollution in London 50 years ago to air pollution problems in Afghanistan today where the government estimates more people died of respiratory conditions linked to air pollution in 2010 than died in conflicts across the whole country.

Listen to the episode on BBC iPlayer.

Live London Air maps and YouTube videos now available on our Facebook page

Continuing our drive to make London’s air quality information as easily accessible as possible wherever people are, we have now integrated our live pollution maps and pollution guide videos directly into our Facebook page.
We hope this will allow users who may not make the trip to our website but who do spend a lot of time on Facebook (and that’s a lot of people) to stay up to date with the status of London’s air while they update their status.

Soundslide: Air Pollution & Climate Change

With the International Panel on Climate Change currently meeting in Durban, this month’s featured video looks at the connections between climate change and air pollution.
It features interviews with Nick Ragland from Thames Barrier, Ed Dearnley from UK Environmental Policy, Professor Martin Williams from King’s, Professor Paul Wilkinson from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Professor Roy Harrison from University of Birmingham.

From the web

A selection of stories from around the web this month:

Pollutionwatch November 2011 Dr Gary Fuller’s monthly Pollutionwatch series for the Guardian.

Our picks
New Healthy Air campaign film launched.
A very robust and interesting exchange about air quality concerns over City Airport’s expansion plans at City Hall. Environment Committee - Thu 1 December, 10am, 43mins
An interesting data visualisation of mortality statistics in England & Wales in 2010. Respiratory diseases are the third largest cause of death behind circulatory diseases and cancers

London
Coverage of the Environmental Audit Comittee Report.
>From the BBC
>From the Guardian
>More from the Guardian
Coverage of the Camden & Islington air quality summit.
>The Islington Tribune
>Highbury on Foot
>Camden New Journal
The Bike Show talks to Simon Birkett from Clean Air London and Alan Andrews from Client Earth about London’s air.
Islington becomes first council to implement borough-wide 20mph zone.
Hydrogen powered black cabs trial.
Green wall at Edgware Tube unveiled.
Victoria Wood launches Camden’s new electric vehicle hire scheme for businesses.
London Sustainability Exchange launches Cleaner Air 4 Schools project in Marylebone.

UK
Environmental Protection UK closes.
Ed Dearnley comments on EPUK’s demise.
Edinburgh considers introducing a low emission zone.

International
Is pollution over the Indian Ocean causing more cyclones?
Lower European pollution levels in 2009 due to recession?
The European Environment Agency quantifies the cost to the economy of Europe’s air pollution.
More on black carbon & climate change
Attempt to overturn EPA’s cross-state air pollution law defeated in the Senate.
China moves to include PM2.5 in its standards

And Finally:
Dr Ben Barratt finally works out where that NOx emission source near Russel Square was coming from.
A very chatty Aethalometer on Twitter.
Jean Therapy.