The London Borough of Newham has announced it will be installing 96 air quality monitoring tubes in schools across its area in an effort to tackle air pollution.
The monitoring tubes will measure levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and these indicative readings will be used to focus the council’s efforts to improve air quality around schools.
The cost of the project will be almost £25,000 with the bulk of the tubes being fitted over the summer.
According to Public Health England, Newham has the largest number of deaths attributable to air quality. Seven out of every 100 deaths is as a result of poor air quality.
Cllr Mas Patel, executive commissioner for Air Quality & Climate Emergency, said that this would change.
‘We are the first local authority in the country to install air quality monitors in all our schools and this should be seen as a mark of our ambition and determination to tackle poor air quality,’ he said.
‘This is the start of a process which will touch all areas of the council’s work and I look forward to working with our partners and our residents to introduce measures that will clean up the air we breathe.
‘There is no time to waste we are acting now to protect our school children, and over the coming months we will reveal our plans to protect every resident from the perils of dirty air.’
