Air pollution down across Camden – but Euston Road still exceeding legal limit
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Air pollution at all three of Camden’s monitoring sites is down on previous levels, but Euston Road still exceeds the legal limit for nitrogen dioxide.
In a yearly progress update on its clean air strategy, the Town Hall reported that “all sites now meeting the council’s 2030 interim target”.
However, the 2023 annual mean level for Euston Road was 46μg/m3 – six points higher than the UK legal limit.
Air pollution data is recorded hourly, and the figures revealed that October 2023 had the highest levels of pollution at 56.1μg/m3. The lowest was in May at 38.8μg/m3.
“Euston Road is one of the most polluted roads in the country,” said the council’s air quality programme manager, Tom Parkes.
He attributed the air quality improvements in the area to ULEZ and “cleaner” cars being manufactured.
After a spike in 2022, air pollution monitoring in Swiss Cottage recorded the area as below the council target of 30ug/m3 for the first time.
Camden High Street and Bloomsbury’s Russell Square, two of the other three sites monitored by Camden Council, had already reached the council’s target.
Two thirds of the initiatives in Camden’s clean air strategy, which runs from 2023 until 2026, have been actioned or completed.
These include securing £170,000 in Defra Air Quality Grant funding for the ‘Clean Air for Schools’ programme.
The remaining 30 per cent of outstanding initiatives include reducing emissions from construction site and standby diesel generators, and working with the NHS to tackle engine-idling around hospitals and healthcare centres.