Skip to content

MENU

Quick guide to air pollution
MENUMENU
  • Public
    • Understanding
      • Annual Pollution Maps
      • Breathe London Blueprint
      • Clean Air in Cities App
      • Defra modelling 2015
      • Defra annual reports
      • How polluted is my road?
      • LAEI 2013
      • London Air
      • 187 focus areas
      • Mayor's useful links
      • 50 polluted roads
      • NO2 diffusion tubes
      • Oxford Street NO2
      • Schools near roads
      • Roadside modelling
      • South East schools
      • What kills Londoners?
    • Action
      • 10 steps
      • Airgonomics podcast
      • Chief Airgonomics Officer
      • Cycle Streets routes
      • EN 13779 hospitals
      • EN 13779 London 2014
      • Face masks
      • Get our mobile app
      • LAQM
      • Legal guide
      • London Plan
      • Mayoral questions
      • Mode choice
      • Putney Society
      • Sunday Times Clean Air Campaign
      • TfL cycling routes
      • Under the Dome (Part 7 from 9.36 mins)
      • Using FOIA/EIR
      • Using social media
    • Smog
      • airTEXT
      • Breathe London - Sloane Street
      • Copernicus
      • Defra hourly bulletins
      • Defra UK-Air
      • EEA Air Quality Index
      • Episodes
      • Health advice
      • Hourly bulletins
      • Jetstream
      • London Air
      • Mayor's school report 2016
      • MetClim
      • Met Office guide
      • Modelling
      • Plume London
      • RBKC monitors
      • SAS selection deaths 2013
      • Smog list on Twitter
      • 24 hour forecast
      • 84 hour pressure
      • 5 day weather
      • 10 day weather
      • 2 week weather
      • World cities AQI
  • Media
    • Media
      • News alerts
      • News
      • Statements
    • Links
      • Davey Cartoons
      • Flickr
      • Facebook
      • LinkedIn
      • Twitter
      • Vimeo
      • You Tube
  • Policy
    • Policy
      • Our Manifesto 2016
      • Clean Air Act
      • Health
      • Indoor
      • Legal
      • Olympics
      • Solutions
      • Sources
  • Resources
    • Guides
      • Guides
      • Guide to the 'Clean Air in Cities' app
      • Pollution Check
      • Pollution Suppressor
      • Smog
    • Resources
      • Davey Cartoons
      • App
      • Ella's Law
      • Indoor air
      • One Atmosphere (Vimeo)
      • One Atmosphere (YouTube)
      • Photos
      • Presentations
      • Videos
    • Links - Ella's Law
      • Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill
      • Ella’s Law
      • ellaslaw.uk
      • Ella Roberta Family Foundation
      • Inquest
      • EU lessons
      • Library briefing
      • New WHO AQGs
      • Petition
      • Supporters
      • The CCC's advice
    • Links - Health
      • Aphekom
      • Cognitive effects on children
      • COMEAP
      • IARC: Diesel
      • IARC: Outdoor/PM
      • JAMA
      • NO2 health study
      • NO2 meta-analysis
      • Public Health Indicators
      • PHI COMEAP advice
      • PHI Defra data
      • PHI PHE advice
      • RCP report 2016
      • Wellcome Witness - Air Pollution Research in Britain 1955 - 2000
      • WHO guidelines 2005
      • WHO AQG 2008
      • WHO AQG update 2017
      • WHO air pollution
      • WHO indoor guidelines
      • WHO HRAPIE
      • WHO outcomes
      • WHO publications
      • WHO REVIHAAP
    • Links - Legal
      • Air Quality Directive
      • AQSR 2010
      • CJEU judgment 2021
      • ClientEarth case
      • DG Environment
      • EU infringement cases
      • ECJ Judgement
      • EU Clean Air
      • EU Clean Air | Twitter
      • EU DGR findings
      • EU Environment Impact Assessments
      • EU financial sanctions
      • EU Fitness Check
      • EU infraction
      • EU infringement UK
      • EU legal processes
      • EU lessons
      • EU media releases
      • EU NECD emissions
      • EU NECD 2016/2284/EU
      • EU NECD revision
      • EU new AQ Directive 2022
      • EU reporting
      • EU TTIP
      • M4 bus lane
      • Planning resources
      • UK National Emissions Ceilings Regulations 2018
    • Links - Policy
      • Breathe Life 2030
      • Chief Airgonomics Officer website
      • CityAir
      • Defra media releases
      • DPF removal
      • Diesel emission standards
      • Diesel exhaust 2007
      • Diesel exhaust 2011
      • Diesel - history
      • Emissions Analytics EQUA Index
      • Engineering Cleaner Air
      • European Environment Agency
      • Fumifugium
      • GEO6
      • GEO7
      • Gothenburg 2020
      • Healthy Air Campaign 'asks'
      • Late lessons 1
      • Late lessons 2
      • LEZs in Europe
      • PX 2015
      • PX 2016
      • SDG scorecards
      • Shipping
      • 10 climate measures
      • What will climate change look like in your area?
      • WHO SLCP measures
  • About
  • Contact
  • Register

Guide to solutions: Mayor Johnson caught taking backward steps (again)

Posted by Simon Birkett on 24 April 2012
Guides, News, Solutions
Download pdf

Mayoral election: Boris Johnson caught reducing health protections for Londoners

Vote for Jenny Jones (Green) or Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat); and give your second preference to Ken Livingstone (Labour).  Boris Johnson offers no new policies to reduce air pollution and has shown he does not understand the health impacts

Perhaps in a first for the leader of a world city, Boris Johnson has been caught actively working to undermine the two measures most likely to protect the health of Londoners and address the biggest public health risk after smoking.  In particular, he is actively suppressing public awareness of air pollution while orchestrating a major campaign, behind the scenes with the Government, to weaken UK and international air quality laws.  With no new policies and these two discoveries, Boris Johnson scores minus two and ranks last

Jenny Jones, Ken Livingstone and Brian Paddick have all condemned the use by Boris Johnson of the Pollution Suppressor by official air quality monitors.  These monitors are used to warn the public of smog episodes and report legal breaches

Other issues that must be addressed by the next Mayor include: air pollution in the London Underground; harmful emissions from buildings and within them; and ensuring air quality laws are fully complied with during the London 2012 Olympics

CAL congratulates The Green Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrats for giving proper consideration to air pollution in their Mayoral and London Assembly campaigns

London needs to address ‘invisible’ air pollution as the biggest cause of early deaths after smoking.

On 2 February 2012, Clean Air in London (CAL) published its manifesto for the Mayoral and London Assembly elections which set out the steps needed to address the biggest public health crisis for decades.  The manifesto argues that through a mixture of political will, behavioural change and technology London can lead the world in tackling air pollution as it did after the Great Smog of 1952.

CAL’s manifesto describes five themes, 12 key policy areas and 45 measures to reduce dangerous airborne particles (PM10 and PM2.5) and/or nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ensure full compliance with air quality laws that are breached by a factor of two or more near London’s busiest roads.  These are:

  • Lead the fight to improve London’s air by championing the tightening of health and legal protections, ensuring good governance and improving public understanding of poor air quality
  • Clean up London’s transport by reducing traffic emissions, cleaning up the public transport system, reducing emissions from non-road mobile machinery and supporting active travel
  • Build a low emission city by using planning powers and other opportunities to reduce emissions from buildings and improve indoor air quality
  • Protect the most vulnerable through a focus on children, the elderly, the poor and ethnic minorities
  • Ensure a legacy from the Olympic Games by delivering a low emission Olympics and more

Underpinning these themes are several principles.  First: ‘The London Matrix’ which shows that by complying fully with air quality laws in London (or any large city) it is possible to show the world how to tackle wider air pollution, climate change and sustainability issues in all big cities.  Second: ‘The London Circles’ which are two overlapping circles representing traffic measures to address congestion and harmful emissions with each offering secondary benefits for the other.  Third: ‘The London Principle’ which states it may be necessary to accept a 1% increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to achieve a 10% reduction in harmful emissions (and vice versa).  Fourth: sustainable solutions require emissions to be reduced at source; off-setting measures are never sound since they do not stop human exposure to harmful emissions and sooner or later they have no effect.

CAL’s analysis of the Mayoral manifestos focused on their commitments to reduce air pollution over the next four years including statements and actions during the election campaign.  Only Boris Johnson offers no new policies.  In general, the other main candidates have aligned their policies with CAL’s manifesto and prioritised: (i) leadership to address poor air quality; (ii) cleaning up the bus fleet; (iii) a new approach to low emission zones (LEZs); (iv) improving suburban rail services; and (v) supporting cycling.  More specifically, the issues that distinguish the candidates include:

Jenny Jones (Green)

The Greens have made the most strident commitment to air quality, stating that they will ‘comply with air quality laws, urgently developing plans to meet this commitment whether the Government plays its part or not’.  Only the Greens make a commitment to address immediately emissions from buses promising to ‘retrofit all buses immediately if technology is shown to work’.  The Greens will ‘ensure that all new buses are low emission hybrid, hydrogen or electric models within one year of being elected and that the entire fleet runs on this technology by 2016’.  The Greens and Liberal Democrats want a new approach to LEZs and advocate an additional smaller LEZ for central London.  The Greens also advocate an additional LEZ around Heathrow.  Only the Greens specifically mention working with the Government to reduce emissions from trains.

Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat)

The Liberal Democrats will ‘revise the Air Quality Strategy to set out exactly what needs to be done and by whom to achieve clean, healthy air for Londoners’.  While Labour and the Greens have produced proposals to electrify the London bus fleet, the Liberal Democrats have made a very convincing case for their ‘Big Switch’ to move London’s bus, taxi and public service vehicles to battery electric propulsion.  The Liberal Democrats and Greens want a new approach for LEZs and advocate an additional smaller LEZ for central London.  The Liberal Democrats, Greens and Labour support measures to make cycling safer and more attractive.  All three want to expand London’s network of ‘Greenways’ and support London boroughs to expand 20 mph zones in residential areas.

Ken Livingstone (Labour)

Labour will engage directly with the European Commission ‘to agree a plan for how London can meet European air quality standards’.  Labour has made a commitment to run a trial of battery electric buses that use induction (i.e. wireless) charging.  Labour wants to establish ‘Clean Air Zones’ around schools.  Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats support measures to make cycling safer and more attractive.  They all want to expand London’s network of ‘Greenways’ and support London boroughs to expand 20 mph zones in residential areas.

Boris Johnson (Conservative)

Astonishingly, Boris Johnson has no new policies in his manifestos to reduce air pollution.  The Conservatives (mistakenly) downplay air quality as a significant problem for London and include it in their economy manifesto.  Mayor Johnson demonstrates his lack of understanding of the issues by promising to ‘continue a 100% congestion charge discount for low emission vehicles so there is a real financial incentive for Londoners to drive the cleanest vehicles available’ when it is a measure aimed at reducing CO2 emissions that increases the number of vehicles entering the zone and encourages those producing the most harmful emissions i.e. diesel.  In a separate media release, Boris Johnson’s campaign team claims Stockholm and Zurich have worse air quality than London which is laughable if it did not show such a serious lack of understanding.  Boris Johnson has also confirmed his commitment to measures at PM10 hotspots which include using the Pollution Suppressor in front of air quality monitoring stations (despite this being condemned by the three other candidates).

With no new policies, Boris Johnson has been given a negative score because he has been caught:

  • Actively suppressing public awareness of air pollution
  • Using the Pollution Suppressor in front of the air quality monitors most-used to warn the public during smog episodes and report legal breaches; and
  • Failing to warn people during smog episodes even when healthy people may be at risk.
  • Actively campaigning, with the Government, to weaken UK and international air quality laws
  • Helped establish an organisation involving other 11 European regions to weaken air pollution laws
  • Lobbying to weaken air pollution laws including through the media
  • Refusing to disclose details of his communications with other lobbying European regions

Boris Johnson is being supported by the Government in both negative activities.  More particularly, the Government has: confirmed its support for the use of thePollution Suppressor and issued a non-smog alert on 3 April in response to media concern on the issue and; and stated it will ‘use the European Commission review of air quality legislation, expected in 2013, to seek amendments to the Air Quality Directive which reduce the infraction risk faced by most Member States, especially in relation to nitrogen dioxide provisions’ (page 7).

After a detailed analysis of the manifestos for the Mayoral election, CAL encourages voters to: choose Jenny Jones (Green) (who scored nine out of 10) or Brian Paddick (Liberal Democrat) (eight out of ten); and give their second preference to Ken Livingstone (Labour) (seven out of 10).  Boris Johnson (Conservative) scored minus two out of 10 and ranks last.

Other issues that must still be addressed by the next Mayor include: air pollution in the London Underground; harmful emissions from buildings and within them; and ensuring air quality laws are fully complied with during the London 2012 Olympics.

There is a stark choice for Londoners on 3 May.  At its simplest, all the candidates, except Boris Johnson, would warn Londoners about smog episodes not use the Pollution Suppressor in front of official air quality monitors.  Vote for change if you want clean air in London.

This is the third in a series of six articles being written for Politics Home by Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, about air quality in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympics.  The six articles will address health impacts, legal issues, sources, solutions and opportunities; indoor air quality; and the Olympics.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/99482/response/289680/attach/html/3/2012%2006%2018%20IR%20response.pdf.html

CAL 187 AIR position paper

CAL 186 Guide to solutions_Safe routes to schools

All news articles

Share this post

Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on LinkedIn
Tweets by CleanAirLondon

Calendar

  1. Anniversary (1956): Oral questions | Atmospheric Pollution (Fog Warnings)

    April 5, 2023

  2. Anniversary (1956): Third reading of the Clean Air Bill

    April 10, 2023

  3. Anniversary (1956): Royal Assent Clean Air Act

    July 5, 2023

View all events

Categories

  • Apps5
  • Clean Air Act8
  • COP261
  • Great Smog1
  • Guides17
  • Health96
  • Hot topics18
  • Indoor20
  • Legal125
  • News264
  • Olympics23
  • Presentations17
  • Solutions91
  • Sources49
Clean Air in London is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, with company number 7413769 and registered office Thames House, Mere Park, Dedmere Road, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1PB
Privacy policy Terms of use

Favourites

  • ClientEarth
  • Healthy Air Campaign
  • Keep the city out
  • London Air Quality Network
  • Take a Breath
© 2023 Clean Air in London Registered company number 7413769
Allow us to send you notifications about news posts?
× No Thanks
This site uses cookies: Find out more.