Cleaner air seen as vital target in Hammersmith and Fulham action plan

By Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter

Hammersmith and Fulham council is looking to introduce new Clean Air Neighbourhood projects and encourage more active travel in a bid to reduce local pollution.

The borough’s Quality Action Plan (AQAP), which is to run to 2030, also outlines priorities including cutting emissions from buildings and rolling out school streets.

The local authority is the tenth worst in England for pollution according to Public Health England, with 7.4 per cent of deaths linked to poor air quality.

A council paper also detailed how figures from 60 monitoring stations across Hammersmith and Fulham indicate not one area meets air quality targets set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

In the draft AQAP published ahead of this week’s cabinet meeting, it states the purpose of the plan is to “protect the health and wellbeing of the people who live, work in and visit the borough from the effects of air pollution. It also supports our aim of being the greenest local authority in the country.”

A series of overarching goals, such as raising residents’ and businesses’ awareness of how they can reduce their emissions and working with the Greater London Authority (GLA) and Transport for London (TfL) to make improvements, are listed, as are some specific priorities.

These include developing new Clean Air Neighbourhood (CAN) projects in areas supported by residents, involving tree planting and drainage systems as well as measures to reduce traffic and pollution, cutting building emissions by actions such as replacing older boilers, and delivering infrastructure needed to encourage more active travel like walking, wheeling and cycling.

In total, 40 individual actions are detailed to be undertaken during the period 2025 to 2030.

At the meeting, Conservative councillor Adronie Alford said: “I do hope people will consider the impact [some] of the suggestions may have on residents, because while we all would like people to be fitter, healthier, walking everywhere it isn’t always possible and we don’t want to continually penalise people because they drive cars because they have to get about.”

She also asked how the Labour administration will ensure the council consults with residents and does ‘not inflict things on them’.

Council leader Stephen Cowan said consulting with residents ‘is the key thing that we do’.

He specifically referenced the South Fulham CAN, and how some residents who had previously complained about the scheme had later become advocates.

“Certainly in South Fulham, which is where we introduced it, it’s been hugely popular…so we have consulted extensively and it is extremely popular in South Fulham,” he said.

The South Fulham CAN uses cameras to deter out-of-borough drivers from rat-running through side-streets. The council says data indicates there are fewer drivers using both the main road and side-streets since it was introduced.

The local authority also recently installed parklets along Wandsworth Bridge Road to reduce congestion and pollution and help local businesses.

Pictured top: Wandsworth Bridge Road parklets (Picture: LDRS)