NO2 levels breached 8 times in 2017 compared to 403 times in 2016

New figures show that air pollution levels in Putney High Street have fallen sharply over the past year. The data from a council’s air monitoring station on the façade of a building in in Putney High Street show that in 2017 levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air were breached eight times compared to 403 times the previous year. This means a target of not breaching them more than 18 times in a year has been beaten.

In 2012 there were 1726 breaches – meaning that since then there has been a 99 per cent reduction.

The fall in pollution coincides with the introduction of cleaner buses along the street and the introduction last year of a Low Emission Bus Zone. More than 100 buses an hour use Putney High Street, but in 2012 a research project by Wandsworth Council exposed the bus fleet as responsible for over 80 per cent of nitrogen dioxide build ups.

The findings were presented to Transport for London to convince it to put routes serving Putney at the front of the queue when switching to greener buses. Now the council is urging Mayor Sadiq Khan to take polluting buses off all the borough’s streets.

The council has also made improvements to Putney High Street’s layout and traffic signals to ease queuing, and a ban on delivery vehicles stopping to unload has been introduced to reduce congestion further.

The council’s environment spokesman Jonathan Cook said: “Our campaign to ban polluting buses from Putney High Street and our ban on daytime deliveries have both been significant factors in cutting the congestion which contributes to pollution build ups.

“Progress has been excellent so far, but there’s no room for complacency. We will continue to work to reduce air pollution in Putney and across the borough as set out in our Air Quality Action Plan.

“We will also continue to lobby the Mayor to ensure all the bus routes serving Wandsworth use low-emission buses – not just those in pollution hotspots. All our residents deserve cleaner air, and this fall in Putney’s pollution proves that our focus on buses was correct.”

Read the council's Air Quality Action Plan

February 8, 2018