Young lungs need clean air
No easy street
It’s Walk to School Week so we’re back to our initiation into the world of air quality this week - via School Streets. We are still waiting with baited breath for our local (and our younger daughter’s) school to set out the plans, but we know it is due to be implemented next term. We can’t wait - the school drop off can be quite unpleasant with double parked cars, idling engines and parking on yellow zig zags. But these are the minority - latest data shows 75% of children in London take active travel modes to school.
Unlike some other traffic-related measures which are more controversial, School Streets seem to be a runaway success. There are now almost 700 across London (other cities have trialled them too but, as we understand it, they are harder to implement as local councils don’t have the same powers to be able to close streets). The team who campaigned for the Rosendale School Street - one of the more difficult ones to implement near here - are now focusing on supporting parents to alternative travel options such as cargo bikes (this article from an event we attended has a little quote from ‘local dad’, Sacha!)
Data points
This wonderful article quoting friend of this blog, Claire McDonald, explains it well. Children are subject to five times as much air pollution while on the school run than at any other time. On the back of this article (which quotes our Brixton monitoring node stats), Louise was asked whether air pollution reduced as a result of the school streets she was had been involved in. This is a difficult question to answer (air quality consultants will not go out of a job any time soon) but this report summarises a number of School Streets in London. It found that nitrogen dioxide levels could be reduced by 23% at school drop off times.
We have some insights into the data from our Brixton monitoring node. We took the graphs below from a whole year’s worth of data so that it wasn’t skewed by seasonal variations. Nitrogen dioxide levels (which are heavily dependent on traffic) have two peaks, as you would expect for rush hours. But the second peak starts building from mid afternoon rather than what you might expect from a commuting peak in the later afternoon and evening.
This is a really nice video about why this matters for children. It notes that 1 in 11 children in the UK have asthma, yet simple steps such as taking active travel options on the school run can reduce their exposure to pollution and protect their health.
We also love the approach from Our Planet Needs You, run by friend of this blog, Caty Keen. It’s a nine-part educational programme designed to inspire climate action in schools through hands-on, student-led initiatives. Among its planet-friendly missions is Active Travel, which focuses on reducing school-run traffic and tracking the resulting impact on local air quality. By measuring real-world data around participating schools, the programme aims to spark a friendly competition: which schools can cut emissions the most? If you’re involved with schools across London, why not make use of their content?
London leads
It was interesting to see the recent comparison of European cities on various measures to support child-centred transport. London ranked 14th overall (out of 36) but came out top on School Streets. It seems its ranking was pulled down by a lack of protected cycling infrastructure compared to other cities. But well done London councils for pursuing one bit of safe transport infrastructure so effectively for its two million children.