City Pollution - What Should The City of London Corporation do to Reduce it?

[Hussain]

I have had the pleasure of living in the City of London for nearly twenty years, during this time I have noticed how the pollution levels have worsened.

I am guilty of ownership of a diesel car, purchased years ago when diesel cars were sold as more fuel efficient, before the harmful effects of diesel carbon emission were identified by scientific research to be more than 50% more polluting than petrol cars. 

That particular car is parked, no longer in use, I like some other diesel car owners am hoping that with the Mayor of London's initiative, the City of London would introduce it's own diesel car scrappage scheme, funded via central government, to remove these filthy polluting vehicles off our roads. I was hoping that in his Budget announcement, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, would introduce a national diesel car scrappage scheme, high road taxes on them, or a total ban.

It is important that the City of London Corporation acts, the air pollution is affecting the health of City children especially around Sir John Cass Foundation School, it does affect the City elderly, person with compromised immune systems, asthmatics, and all of our health, it can be a trigger Alzheimer's causing dementia, even certain types of cancer!

The City needs to do more to protect our health, it needs to work with experts in air pollution, and immediately consider providing all City residents with a diesel particle filtration face mask, whether the resident uses it or not is irrelevant. 

Face mask: https://respro.com/pg/faqs

Respro (UK) Ltd
Unit 7, Sky Business Park
Eversley Way
Egham
TW20 8RF
United Kingdom

For information about orders already placed via our website,
please contact us by email at [e-mail].

They are willing to offer a bulk buy discount to the City of London Corporation.

(I do not work for them, and have no financial interest)

"In January2017, the City of London Corporation via City Bridge Trust, granted the  Environmental law firm ClientEarth £100,000 to help it expand its work improving London’s air quality and to fund a project working with businesses on issue of air pollution and the best means of tackling it.

London has some of the worst air quality in the UK, and in many parts of the city legal limits designed to protect people’s health are not being met.

According to readings from the air quality monitoring station in Old Street, emissions there have so far stayed below legal limits.

Last year it emerged air quality improvements around some London roads flatlined in the decade between 2005 and 2014 and in some areas had....

ClientEarth has been a thorn in the side of the government over the issue. It recently won a landmark High Court case against the government over its “moral and legal failure” to tackle air pollution.

Alison Gowman, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s City Bridge Trust Committee, said: “Tackling London’s air quality problem is a priority for both the City of London Corporation and ClientEarth.

“City Bridge Trust is keen to help ClientEarth work with the capital’s businesses to improve London’s air quality. We are committed to supporting Londoners to make the capital a healthier and fairer place to work and live. We are delighted to have helped so many projects through the fund that are opening up incredible opportunities and enhancing lives.”

ClientEarth spokesperson Simon Alcock said: “We are delighted to receive this grant from City Bridge Trust. This is the perfect time to be engaging business following our court case victory and the announcements made by the Mayor of London.

“The solutions to solving our clean air crisis should benefit business and consumers. It will help protect the health of employees and make London a more desirable place to work and live. It will also create economic opportunities for businesses that develop the new products and services we will need to clean up London’s air. We want to build business support for this shift and to help make London a world leader in sustainable urban transport and clean technologies.

“Our recent win in the High Court following the victory in the Supreme Court.. is forcing the UK Government to act on air pollution and has established ClientEarth as a leader in air quality campaigning in the UK.”

Source: Josh Loeb

What type of positive action would the City of London election candidates guarantee for us to reduce air pollution? The City needs to ensure that a healthy City is a "healthy" city for residents, workers, and visitors.

[Hussain]

The City of London Corporation and King's College London have launched version 2.0 of the smartphone app which helps Londoners lower their impact on, and exposure to, air pollution.

Users can sign up for air pollution alerts and find low air pollution routes when levels of air pollution are high in London.

The CityAir app is currently available for iOS and Android and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and Android devices.

You can view a user's video for version 2.0 for iPhone and iPad.​

It can be downloaded free of charge from the iTunes store and Google Play. A web based version is also available.

Published:15 November 2013 Last Modified:20 January 2017

Source: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/business/environmental-health/envir...

Try it out, its quite a useful pollution indicator, backed up by the pollution monitors, located on various streets locally, including Beech Street, Farringdon Street, Walbrook Wharf, Upper Thames Street.

[Hussain]

Its fine having Low Emission Zone's, however that does not prevent air borne pollution from moving over boundaries, this is where the City needs to do more, the health of its residents, workers and visitors is at stake.

It is essential that the City of London issues free face masks, such as Respro https://respro.com/pg/faqs, to all City residents, our health IS more important than attracting business, importantly businesses are looking at wider factors before locating in a particular area, including pollution.

The City needs to show it cares, face masks have shown to reduce pollution related asthmatic attacks, and other illnesses, thus reducing the need to visit GP's, hospitals, and days off work, in the long run the issuing of face masks will benefit everyone.

The City is internationally renowned for its pro-business ethoses, at the same time it needs to show the UK, that not only does it generate £billions, that it cares passionately about the health of its residents, workers, and visitors.

Where the City leads, others will follow, positive action is long overdue, the cost can be reduced or totally covered with grant funding from the City Bridges Trust.

[Hussain]

Parents should use pram covers to protect babies and young children from harmful air pollution during the school run, researchers suggest. Dr Prashant Kumar, lead study author from the University of Surrey, said his findings were a warning to parents, "Young children are far more susceptible to pollution than adults, due to their immature and developing systems and lower body weight, essentially, children could be at risk of breathing in some nasty and harmful chemical species such as iron, aluminium and silica that form together the particles of various size ranges."

The studies have shown that young children are more at risk because their bodies are small and developing, and they could be breathing in damaging substances. Bus stops and traffic lights were the worst places for being exposed to the tiny particles from exhaust fumes and tyres that can get into the bloodstream, and there were more of these harmful particles in the air during morning drop-off times, when traffic was at its busiest.

Source: Environmental Pollution

The City of London Corporation must act to ban all car traffic for at least one hour during school drop off and pick up times, this is easily enforceable. Protect our children and protect our and their future! Let their brains develop without pollution.

A recent World Health Organization report said that 570,000 children under the age of five died every year from illnesses that could be linked to pollution.

Air pollution is a major contributor to ill health in the UK, UK scientists estimate that air pollution cuts British people's lives by an average of six months!

The City of London Corporation has neglected air pollution for too long, it is getting much worse, all residents must be supplied with RESPO face masks immediately. Literature, online and printed, needs to be provided to every resident.

Every City street needs trees of suitable girth to be planted, every existing and all new buildings needs to be carbon neutral, the planning department should automatically reject developments that are not carbon neutral. Grants for solar power, ground source heat pumps/heating, wind turbines, and triple glazing, GREEN plating on sides of building, grants for community groups to plant fruit trees, balcony plants, ...

Imagine the new residential schemes, Bernard Morgan House, Richard Cloudesley School site, with green living walls...

 

Environmental studies: the schools being powered by nature

Children learn better when the outdoors comes into the classroom – and the benefits extend beyond academic achievement

Have the VISION of a GREENER living building for the Richard Cloudesley School RCS) and Bernard Morgan sites, obtain funding from the City Bridges Trust the RCS site. Force Taylor Wimpey to re-think their design...at their own cost.
Image copyright Stefano Boeri Image caption Boeri Studio's Bosco Verticale tower blocks in Milan offer a new vision of green, low energy urban living

Appliance control systems, cladding, natural cooling systems and other technologies can reduce carbon emissions by 33%. Source: Boeri Studio

A pollution free City can be a Happy Healthy Living City... Vision Green...