Southwark’s Clean Air Day plans help worst affected school children

20 June 2019

Southwark Council is celebrating Clean Air Day by committing to working with all of its schools, in areas with bad air pollution.

The council will support the schools and an external auditor to produce a bespoke roadmap for each location, outlining achievable measures that will help to reduce Southwark schoolchildren’s exposure to polluted air. 

Southwark is the first council to announce an air quality audit programme of this scale. It is funding 33 audits, including all council primary schools, in areas where EU air quality limits are not being met. The project will use learning from the Mayor of London’s audit of London’s schools in 2017, this included two Southwark schools.

An independent auditor will look at how people travel to school, assess the school’s involvement with the council’s School Travel Plan, and look at the work being done to encourage children to be active, healthy, and knowledgeable about sustainable travel. The auditor will also tour the site and talk to the children and staff, to gain an understanding of the situation and how air quality could be improved.

Air quality data based on thousands of readings from the council’s monitors over the course of a year, was used to identify all schools in areas exceeding the annual average EU limit for Nitrogen Dioxide (40μg/m3). This secured an objective allocation of air quality audits, for the schools that are most in need.

Young children, older people and those with respiratory and cardiac conditions are worst affected by poor air quality. Additionally, high levels of air pollution are shown to impact on the development of lung capacity in very young children, which can lead to breathing problems later in life.

Cllr Richard Livingstone, Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and the Climate Emergency, said: “Children and other vulnerable people are our top priority when it comes to cleaning up Southwark’s air and these audits will get directly to the root of the problem in schools which are most in need.

“Our school audits will compliment all the work that is already happening across Southwark, including road closures outside schools, engine idling fines, and help installing green screens and planting. These audits will help to show how emissions could be reduced and children’s exposure to air pollution can be limited, around our worst affected schools.”

In addition to the 33 independent audits commissioned by the council, other Southwark schools in areas which also exceed EU limits will have the opportunity to procure their own audits.

Further to the 24 schools identified by the council, all schools in the Old Kent Road area are being audited. This is so that future plans to develop the area in coming years are informed by learning from the air quality audits.

Page last updated: 20 June 2019