NO2 pollution remains high in areas outside of the Ultra Low Emission Zone

London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) has driven down nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels, according to figures from King’s College London. But areas outside of the zone still witness illegal levels of air pollution.

NO2 mostly comes from the combustion of fossil fuels, particularly in diesel vehicles. Long-term exposure to the pollutant can cause a range of impacts on respiratory health, especially amongst children whose lungs are still developing.

“A child living in London exposed to high levels of air pollution may notice nothing. If you were a child who’s got asthma, then you might notice more dramatic effects because pollution can trigger asthma attacks,” says Christopher Griffiths, a professor of primary care at Queen Mary, University of London.

Up to 5,900 Londoners died prematurely from long-term exposure to NO2 in 2010. Griffiths adds that children who experienced stunted lung growth are more likely of developing lung conditions in adulthood.

To protect our health, the EU set the yearly limit of NO2 at an average of 40 µg/m3, which meets WHO guidelines.

In a bid to reduce the emissions of all vehicles in London, the Mayor introduced the ULEZ scheme in April 2019. Vehicles must meet strict emission standards to drive in the area or pay a charge. The scheme runs 24 hours a day for the entire year.

According to a report by City Hall, 77% of vehicles in the zone now comply with the emissions standards, with 13,500 fewer polluting cars being driven into central London each day.

The ULEZ currently only applies to the same area covered by the Congestion Charge. This a small area of London, meaning the majority of the city is still vulnerable to high levels of pollution due to the lack of standards in place.

A study by Imperial found that many parks and green spaces in London remain under illegal levels, with the highest annual averages being found in inner London boroughs. City of London, Westminster, Camden, Kensington and Chelsea and Islington having the highest levels of all London boroughs. Out of these boroughs, City of London is the only one completely inside the zone.

The worst air quality was in Victoria Embankment Gardens, with an annual NO2 average of 59.7 µg/m3. It was closely followed by Parliament Square Gardens, which was 58.7 µg/m3. Popular destinations like Hyde Park and St James’ Park also exceeded safe levels.

Lucy Facer is a co-founder of Islington Clean Air Parents. She lives in one of the top five most polluted boroughs. Facer says that Islington has “a 29% car ownership”, meaning that over 70% of the traffic comes from outside of the borough.

“It’s huge, and they’re all rat-running through residential streets, avoiding the main thoroughfares,” says Facer. Her toddler Otis suffers from wheeze, a condition that has a 1 in 4 chance of developing into asthma, and these odds are only increased by the poor air quality.

“He’ll be up at night between two to five hours unable to sleep because you can’t lie down when you’ve got wheeze, so you’ve got to sit up. The knock-on effect for the next day is huge. It also triggers anxiety, so he twitches. There is a lot of things, but people don’t generally see that,” says Facer.

Image credit: TFL

The Ultra Low Emission Zone will be extended from October 2021 and will include the area up to the North and South circular roads. The Low Emission Zone, which applies only to commercial vehicles, will be implemented London-wide in October 2020.

“We don’t need heavily polluting vehicles in residential areas where there are young children and young women who may be pregnant,” says Andrew Bush, a paediatric chest physician.

The ULEZ scheme and expansion have been described as “radical”, but Bush agrees with Mr Khan’s plans. “I like what he’s trying to do to clear the air in London, he at least seems from his public utterances to get it that pollution matters,” he says.

Roger Barrowcliffe is the vice-chairman of the Institute of Air Quality Management. He says that the tightening of regulations on emissions will see a sharp improvement but adds that people make their choices “not on the basis of air quality, but on practical everyday matters”. Only a small minority of people buy electric cars and seek out cleaner petrol or diesel vehicles.

Barrowcliffe remains optimistic and believes that the drive for decarbonisation will naturally result in a cleaner vehicle fleet: “We shouldn’t forget that this will all happen in time anyway. The real question we should be asking ourselves is not ‘can we solve the problem?’ but ‘how fast do we want to solve the problem?’”