More Camera Restrictions Part of Borough Pollution Strategy
Hammersmith and Fulham has 10th worst air quality in the country
An air quality sensor outside St Peter's CE Primary, W6
December 18, 2024
Hammersmith & Fulham Council is looking to introduce new Clean Air Neighbourhood projects as part of a broader strategy to reduce pollution in the borough.
Hammersmith and Fulham’s Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP), which is to run to 2030, also outlines priorities including cutting emissions from buildings and rolling out school streets.
The local authority is the tenth worst in England for pollution according to Public Health England, with 7.4 per cent of deaths linked to poor air quality.
A council paper also detailed how figures from 60 monitoring stations across Hammersmith and Fulham indicate not one area meets air quality targets set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In the draft AQAP published ahead of this week’s Cabinet meeting it is written that the purpose of the plan is to “protect the health and wellbeing of the people who live, work in and visit the borough from the effects of air pollution. It also supports our aim of being the greenest local authority in the country.”
A series of overarching goals, such as raising residents’ and businesses’ awareness of how they can reduce their emissions and working with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL) to make improvements, are listed, as are some specific priorities.
These include developing new Clean Air Neighbourhood (CAN) projects in areas supported by residents, involving tree planting and drainage systems as well as measures to reduce traffic and pollution, cutting building emissions by actions such as replacing older boilers, and delivering infrastructure needed to encourage more active travel like walking, wheeling and cycling. In total, 40 individual actions are detailed to be undertaken during the period 2025 to 2030.
The AQAP was subject to an internal consultation and review plus an external consultation before being presented to Cabinet.
At the meeting, Conservative councillor Adronie Alford said that while she appreciates the AQAP is necessary: “I do hope people will consider the impact [some] of the suggestions may have on residents, because while we all would like people to be fitter, healthier, walking everywhere it isn’t always possible and we don’t want to continually penalise people because they drive cars because they have to get about.”
She also asked how the Labour administration will ensure the council consults with residents and does ‘not inflict things on them’.
Council leader Stephen Cowan said consulting with residents ‘is the key thing that we do’.
He specifically referenced the South Fulham CAN, and how some residents who had previously complained about the scheme had later become advocates.
“Certainly in South Fulham, which is where we introduced it, it’s been hugely popular…so we have consulted extensively and it is extremely popular in South Fulham,” he said.
The South Fulham CAN uses cameras to deter out-of-borough drivers from rat-running through side-streets.
Opponents to the CAN say it has funnelled vehicles onto Wandsworth Bridge Road.
The council disputes this, and says data indicates there are fewer drivers using both the main road and side-streets since it was introduced.
The local authority also recently installed parklets along Wandsworth Bridge Road to reduce congestion and pollution and help local businesses.
Cllr Cowan add he was surprised to see initial critics of the South Fulham CAN attend Cllr Ben Coleman’s victory party following his election as the Labour MP for Chelsea and Fulham in July.
He said they told him they were impressed with the extent to which Cllr Coleman had consulted, and that had won him their votes.
“It does show that when people are prepared to openly without prejudice look at the data and work with us on these things that it is compelling.”
Cllr Alford responded saying she and Cllr Cowan perhaps have ‘slightly different perspectives on certain areas’ before the Cabinet agreed the adoption of the new AQAP.
In East London the High Court yesterday ruled Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s decision to remove a set of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) was lawful.
A group of pro-LTN campaigners challenged the legality of the Mayor’s decision, though all seven grounds presented by the group were struck down by Mr Justice Fordham.
TfL was also involved in the case as an ‘Interested Party’, arguing the move went against the council’s own Local Implementation Plan previously agreed with the London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter