A breath of fresh air

Coming soon, London’s ‘Low Emission Zone’ is set to clean up the capital.

When 31 people died in the Paddington rail crash on 5 October 1999, you may well have gasped in horror. It was indeed a tragedy, but our attitude to risk is a curious one. Since the Paddington rail crash, around 7,000 premature deaths have occurred as a result of poor air quality in London.

In addition to these deaths, every year a further 1,000 people are admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties triggered by air pollution. The problem is that, while the wrecked Paddington trains were very visible and shocking, the perpetrator here is miniscule: a piece of soot that’s barely one thousandth of a millimetre in diameter. These particulates, known as PM10s, are belched out from vehicle engines in their billions and their tiny size means they escape the mucus filters in our mouths and throats and head straight for our lungs. There, they can trigger asthma and bronchitis and even lead to cancer.

The congestion charge went some way to reducing this pollution, by encouraging people to drive less and use cleaner cars – there has been a step-change reduction in PM10 emissions since its introduction. But now, Transport for London (TfL), the mayor’s executive agency responsible for implementing the charge, is mounting an even bigger offensive – the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ).

In a nutshell, the zone, which will come into force on 4 February 2008, covers virtually the whole of Greater London, and is only accessible to vehicles complying with exhaust emissions standards. Those that don’t will need to pay – and dearly: the charge of up to £200 per day is a clear incentive to owners to either install particulate filters or replace them with cleaner models.

“The LEZ will bring about a 20% reduction in the area of London that is forecast to exceed pollution limits,” explains Nick Fairholme who heads up the project at TfL.

Air pollution is a subject close to his heart: he has a young family and a partner who suffers with asthma. But it’s surprising to hear that the zone still won’t bring London into full compliance with European air quality targets, though Fairholme says it is the best option out there. “We’ve calculated substantial health benefits across the life of the scheme. By 2015, gains in life expectancy, reductions in hospital admissions and reductions in respiratory problems will have saved somewhere between £80 and £390 million inside London, and £80 and £250 million outside London.”

Transport for London is setting an example itself; most of its buses are already compliant and the remainder should be modified by February. Of the 160,000 heavy vehicles rumbling into and around Greater London every day, the majority are already compliant, and hundreds are being modified every week, according to the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency which ‘smoke tests’ vehicles. But that still leaves a fair few heavy lorries over 12 tonnes that will have to clean up by next month. TfL has set out a timetable for lighter lorries, buses and coaches to comply by July 2008 and, large vans and minibuses, brought into line by January 2012.

For London, the LEZ is a breath of fresh air – though one notable omission is of course the M25, even where it passes within the boundary of the zone. Yet just as Transport for London has set the national agenda with congestion charging, perhaps the LEZ will trigger nationwide improvements, so that transport pollution no longer causes premature deaths in Britain. – Julian Rollins

Transport for London is a Forum for the Future partner.

6 January 2008

Julian Rollins