The Hammersmith and Fulham Climate Change and Ecology Policy and Accountability Committee (PAC) met to discuss the council's efforts to tackle air pollution, including an overview of current workstreams, the Air Quality Action Plan 2025-30, and the Better Air Better Health partnership. The committee also heard from guest speakers about the health impacts of air pollution and potential solutions, with a particular focus on school streets. The committee agreed to note the report and presentations.

Air Pollution in Hammersmith and Fulham

Adam Weber, the Council's Air Quality and Active Travel Lead, presented a report on tackling air pollution in the borough, which the committee noted. The report provided an overview of the council's workstreams aimed at improving air quality.

Weber outlined the context of air pollution in Hammersmith and Fulham, including pollution levels, sources of emissions, and trends. He explained that air pollution is a combination of gases and particles that have an adverse impact on human health, but are distinct from classic greenhouse gasses. Key pollutants of concern are nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5).

He noted that while air pollution affects everyone, it disproportionately affects the young, the old and those with pre-existing health conditions, and can be viewed as a key inequalities issue.

pollution affects all of us, but it does have a disproportionate effect on the young, the old, those with pre-existing health conditions, and actually you can view pollution as a really key inequalities issue for the council, because it also has lots of implications in terms of exposure related to social mobility, deprivation, ethnicity, and the like."

Model data indicates that road transport emissions are reducing, but emissions from commercial buildings have remained static. The largest source of particulate matter is construction. Pollution is highest along major roads. The council monitors pollution at a number of sites, and this data is available online. Trends show that concentrations of NO2 have halved since 2016.

The council's work is framed by the Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP), a five-year document adopted at the beginning of the year. The plan commits the council to meeting World Health Organization (WHO) guideline limits for air quality by 2030, which are more stringent than national government objectives.

The main issues the council is looking at are systems change (reducing sources of pollution) and behavioural change (raising awareness). A key element of the work is the Better Air Better Health partnership, a collaboration between the council, Imperial College London, and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Weber spoke to four priority areas:

• Building emissions: Policy levers are focused on the forthcoming local plan[^1], with opportunities to manage new development.
• Transport emissions: Key levers include parking policy, infrastructure for active travel, and the electric vehicle charging network.
• Indoor air quality: This is a new area of focus, with various powers to do with wood burning and permitted fuels.

• Behaviour change: This covers all categories, encouraging people to be aware of pollution and empowered to make decisions.

  [^1]: A local plan is a document produced by local planning authorities that sets out the planning policies for the local area. It guides decisions on whether or not planning permission should be granted.

Finally, Weber gave an update on outdoor waste burning, which was the subject of a recent paper to cabinet.

Questions on Air Pollution

Councillor Amanda Lloyd-Harris, Shadow Cabinet Member of Public Realm, asked about the heat maps of pollution, and whether construction was happening on main roads. Weber responded that development does tend to happen around busy roads, and pollution is hyper-local. He added that idling is an unnecessary emission, but not a major source of pollution.

Councillor Lloyd-Harris asked about behaviour change, and how to communicate to residents about air pollution. Weber responded that different groups of residents will have different motivations, and the focus has to be on the health message.

Hamish Reid from Hammersfield and Fulham Climate Action asked about the lack of a current transport strategy or active travel strategy. Hinesh Mehta, Assistant Director for Climate Change, responded that the council is currently working on the transport strategy, but there is not a set timeline for its publication.

Reid also raised concerns about the low number of school streets in the borough. Weber responded that the council has assessed the feasibility for every primary school in the borough, but demand has not been as strong as anticipated. He added that school streets are not always the best option, and the council is delivering a range of other measures.

Councillor Lloyd-Harris said that waiting for residents to ask for these things is a weak approach, and the council needs to be more confident. Councillor Amanda Lloyd-Harris agreed, saying that the council needs to actively try and do things with residents. Councillor Lloyd-Harris said that the council has a responsibility to educate and inform.

Councillor Harcourt said that not everybody is going to want school streets, and having a consultation and still enforcing it is not ideal.

Gautier Will, from H&F Climate Action Group, asked what kinds of incentives the council plans to introduce to encourage more sustainable behaviours. Weber responded that the main incentive is linking action to tangible health benefits.

Will asked if the air quality plan is available online. Weber responded that it is on the council's website, but could be tidier.

Guest Speakers

The committee then heard from a number of guest speakers.

Professor Frank Kelly, Imperial College London

Professor Frank Kelly from Imperial College London spoke about the importance of air quality as a public health, economic, and human rights issue. He noted that traffic policies in London have improved air quality more than anywhere else. He spoke about indoor air quality, and the sources of pollution in homes and workplaces, including particles, gasses, viruses, bacteria, VOCs¹, damp and mould. He also raised the issue of microplastics.

Kelly noted that the UK has individual country guidelines for pollutants which differ from WHO guidelines, and are sometimes four times higher.

Dr Gareth Thompson, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Dr. Gareth Thompson, the sustainability clinical lead at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, discussed the health impacts of air pollution from the perspective of hospitals and the local community. He stated that air pollution has negative health effects across all people, organs, and age groups, and there is no safe level of air pollution. He noted that the economically deprived suffer more, and human health is the face of climate change and air pollution.

Thompson said that spikes in air pollution cause acute disease exacerbation, and air pollution contributes to the development of childhood asthma. He added that more needs to be done to empower clinicians and patients on air quality. The trust has installed real time air pollution displays in hospitals and GP practices, and is looking to embed air pollution data into electronic patient records.

Councillor Callum Nimmo asked if health admissions are lower in Hammersmith and Fulham compared to other boroughs. Thompson responded that the health impacts are likely to be similar to most other regions of London.

Claire, Mums for Lungs

Claire from Mums for Lungs spoke about the impact of air pollution on children's health. She explained that children are particularly affected because they breathe more frequently and are shorter, putting them closer to emissions. She focused on school streets, which close the road outside of school at pick up and drop off. She stated that 25% of rush hour traffic is the school run, and children are exposed to up to five times more air pollution on the journey to school.

She noted that there are 800 school streets in London, and the move is to have automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) enforcement.

Councillor Nimmo asked how to balance the interests of parents in favour of school streets versus residents who might be angry about more restrictions. Claire responded that school streets are normally very good for residents, as they can drive in and out unchallenged.

Other Issues

Public Access to Meetings

Hamish Reid raised concerns about the layout of the public accountability committee and how it could potentially be improved. He noted that the public are relegated to outside the meeting, which is not a great experience. Councillor Nicole Trehy, Chair of the Climate Change and Ecology PAC, responded that she would take that as a note and have a look at how it can be done.