Chiswick Air Pollution Hotspot Gets Funding For Research

Benefits from £55,000 grant given by DEFRA to Hounslow Council

Chiswick High Road is one of two air pollution hotspots chosen to benefit from a £55,000 grant to reduce air pollution and implement practical measures to improve air quality, following a successful bid to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) by Hounslow Council.

The funding will focus on the area of the High Road by the George IV pub and the Great West Road, Brentford, and will be used in three ways ;to carry out a specialised traffic survey at the identified hotspots; to evaluate strategies generated by the traffic modelling study and to implement practical measures that could reduce air pollution.

Michael Jordan, Hounslow’s Director of Environment, said:

“Vehicle exhausts account for over two thirds of Hounslow’s air pollution problem, and this can clearly be seen in the levels of pollution on major roads such as Chiswick High Road and the A4 Great West Road.

 “This grant is welcome news, and will allow us to do some focussed work at these two hotspots before working with our partners to find ways of improving air quality in the area.”

Initial work to carry out a traffic count and identify the types of most heavily polluting vehicles via number-plate recognition technology is due to start in April.

Officers will then identify measures aimed at reducing pollution in the hotspots and work with stakeholders, including Transport for London, the Highways Agency, London Buses and the freight transport industry, to agree and implement the most suitable strategies.

For more information on what the council is doing to tackle air pollution, visit www.hounslow.gov.uk/air_quality.

The grant from DEFRA was received in two parts, £35K in December 2011 and a further £20K in February 2012.

The council has a duty to comply with the Mayor of London’s Air Quality Strategy.

The London Borough of Hounslow was declared an Air Quality Management Area (where one or more of the air quality objectives are not expected to be met, unless action is taken to improve air quality for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in March 2006).

March 23, 2012