Agenda item

Val Beale ((Environmental Specialist, Planning Specialist Team) and Chris Mansfield (Deputy Director, Planning & Transportation attended the meeting and provided the Committee with an overview of the review into the revision of the Air Quality Action Plan for Hillingdon.

Aim of the review

The Committee was informed that the aim of the review would be to make Members aware of the extent of air pollution in Hillingdon and the way that the Council had managed air quality since 2004. A review would assist in the development of a revised Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP), as required by the Mayor of London.

Members were informed that in Hillingdon, as in the majority of London Boroughs, the national air quality standard for the pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, was exceeded across areas of the Borough, most notably in the south around Heathrow Airport and also in association with the major road networks such as the M4, the A312, the A40 and the A4 and on busy parts of the Borough road network which pass through the Borough’s towns.

Impact of poor air quality

To put the review into context, the Committee was informed that poor air quality has been described as the largest environmental risk to public health in the UK. It was known to have had more severe effects on vulnerable groups, for example the elderly, children and people already suffering from poor health such as respiratory disease.

Members were informed that in Hillingdon, the public health team had undertaken an assessment which highlighted that respiratory diseases were the third highest cause of death in the Borough and that air pollution was a risk factor which had been linked to 1,100 life years lost due to aspects such as exacerbations of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) leading to emergency admissions to hospital.

The Committee was informed that the health effects of air pollution were distributed unequally across the population with the heaviest burden borne by those with the greatest vulnerability and/or exposure. The elderly, children and those with cardiovascular and/or respiratory disease were at greater risk from the health effects of air pollution.

Officers reported that the development of the Air Quality Action Plan would ensure that improvements to health form an important objective in terms of the outcomes of the actions to be included.

Members were provided with copies of maps which showed Air Quality Management Areas for the pollutant nitrogen dioxide. Members noted the correlation between densely populated areas in the Borough and less sparsely populated areas.

Officers were asked to provide details on population increases within the Borough to assess the correlation between population and the quality of air, together with more detailed maps on pollution "hot spots" and focus areas.

A Member raised an issue in relation an odour problem associated with FM Conway Ltd in Hayes, and the impact this was having on local residents. A suggestion was that this could possibly be used as a case study as part of the review.

Reference was made to the impact of poor air quality near to the Borough's schools and possible mitigation measures which could be taken.

The Council's Environmental Specialist reported that a good example of a school taking mitigation measures in relation to poor air quality was at the Botwell School, who were involved in a pilot project called Clean Air for Schools.

A problem often associated with schools was around the times of the school "drop off" and "pick up" times. There could be initiatives such as areas near to schools where parents could stop and drop children off, who could then walk to school.

Outside of schools there could be "No Idling Signs" erected, asking drivers to turn off their engines to prevent CO2 from polluting the air. By keeping engines running whilst parking or waiting, created high levels of pollution which increased health risks like asthma and heart disease, for school children.

Details of the scheme at Botwell School, together with other possible measures to improve air quality near to schools, would be provided for the Committee to consider at the next meeting.

The discussion took place on how the planning system could help improve air quality and Members were informed that the Mayor of London expected development to be, as a minimum, air quality neutral. Further information was requested from Planning on what the planning system could do to help in the improvement of air quality.

It was noted that traffic was a contributory factor to poor air quality and as previously mentioned Hillingdon had major road networks such as the M4, the A312, the A40 and the A4.

The Committee discussed HGV movements within the Borough, the impact of traffic calming measures such as road humps and the general congestion which existed on the Borough's roads and asked that further information be provided on the mitigation measures which could be used to alleviate this problem.

Reference was also made to the canal network within the Borough which could be used more for transportation.  

Officers were thanked for their informative presentation and the information which was requested above be provided for the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED –

1. That approval be given to the draft scoping report for the review and officers be requested to invite witnesses to the next meeting of the Committee to help Members with the review.

2. That officers be asked to provide the information outlined above,   for the next meeting of the Committee.