Ahead of this year's Clean Air Day, which falls on Thursday 15th June, local environmental campaigners have sent an open letter to the leadership of Enfield Council calling on them to do more to monitor and improve air quality in the borough.
Open letter to Enfield Council
June 2023
On June the 15th we shall be marking this year’s Clean Air Day. This is an opportunity to focus our minds on the public health crisis caused by air pollution, and the threat it poses to the health and wellbeing of present and future generations.
Last year, a survey undertaken by Enfield Climate Action Forum (EnCAF) revealed that air pollution is the number one concern of most respondents in Enfield. The Air Pollution Working Group, acting within EnCAF, is calling on Enfield Council to demonstrate that it is listening to these concerns and to commit to increase the allocation of resources to combat air pollution locally.
We believe that the first, and urgent, step needs to be committing to the installation of an automatic monitoring site for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the borough.
An increase in the number of monitoring sites for nitrogen (NO2) is also overdue. This will close the gap existing between Enfield and many other boroughs in London where the number and type of monitors outnumber those in Enfield.
For example
- Enfield is fourth from bottom in the number of diffusion tubes aimed at monitoring monthly NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) emissions across London’s 33 boroughs.
- In 2015 the council decommissioned the second PM10 (rough particulate matter) automatic monitor, which was located in Edmonton, an area surrounded by busy transport routes as well as being one of the most industrialised areas in the whole of London.
- The borough has no automatic PM5 monitor, as mentioned above, in spite of the fact that “it is clear that a substantial part of the health burden from air pollution comes from small respirable particles, most especially those referred to as PM2.5, and also from the gas, nitrogen dioxide”.
There are many reasons why we believe it is necessary to increase the real-life and NO2 monitoring sites of air pollution in Enfield. Here are the main ones:
- To measure the effectiveness of measures undertaken to reduce pollution;
- To use this real-life data to raise awareness and change attitudes among the public and local businesses.
- To help strengthen parents’ commitment to protecting the health of their children by Installing monitors for NO2 near all primary schools in Enfield. At present there are only 3 such monitors near schools in Enfield.
- To use the results of monitoring to provide strong arguments when making representations to other relevant bodies, such as TfL, Mayor of London, industrial polluters etc. urging them to take more action to reduce and mitigate the effects of air pollution from transport and industry in Enfield.
- To access more sources of funding and other kinds of support to combat air pollution locally.
And this is why we believe that Enfield council needs to allocate more resources to this issue:
A recently released review of the latest 70+ key studies by researchers at the Imperial College, London, has highlighted the links between air pollution and ill health at every stage of life, from pre-birth to old age. These and thousands more studies in the last ten years “have strengthened previous understanding, [and] led to the downward revisions of the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines” i.e. the World Health Organisation has drastically reduced the guidance levels of air pollutants.
- Referring to existing policies in the UK, the authors of this review warn that the present legal limits on air pollutants can be misleading:
- It is estimated that there are 4000 premature deaths each year in London due to air pollution. And last year it has been revealed that the number of children being admitted to hospital with asthma in London has risen by 64 per cent in a year. Analysis of data showed that more than 3,600 children were hospitalised with the lung condition across London in 2021/22, an increase of more than 1,400 on the year before, when COVID restrictions significantly lowered the level of air pollution in the capital. This study clearly demonstrates the pernicious effects of air pollution on the health of our children. It’s universally accepted including by the UK government, that air pollution is a public health emergency, and urgent changes and measures are needed to deal with it, requiring collective action on many levels.
“Actions and polices to reduce the concentrations of air pollution are often framed in terms of meeting legal limit values to minimise the harm to human health. These limits should not be perceived, or presented as ‘safe’, non-toxic thresholds [our italics]. Abundant evidence suggests significant impacts below these concentrations, and for some pollutants, such as PM2.5 there is no evidence to identify a threshold where exposure does no harm. The latest evidence, reflected by the new WHO guideline concentrations for PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide, suggest that current levels of air pollution in London will affect all citizens, including those living in the least polluted suburbs, and especially those with pre-existing vulnerabilities.”
Enfield Council can, and should, play a leading role locally by
- committing to the installation of an automatic monitoring site for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the borough;
- committing to a step change in monitoring air pollution in Enfield;
- engaging with people who live and/or work in Enfield, to inform them of the hazards of air pollution, the factors that cause it and what they can do to help;
- creating partnerships with local community and commercial organisations, industry, schools and colleges, to inform them, too, of the hazards of air pollution, the factors that cause it and what they can do to help.
