The Leading News & Information Service For The Facilities, Workplace & Built Environment Community

Nine to Five & Five to Nine - We Want the Airwaves

14 September 2017 | Updated 01 January 1970
 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has encouraged leading TV and radio broadcasters to work with him to help inform Londoners in particular and the country as a whole about poor air quality through their news and weather bulletins so they can take action to protect themselves from its harmful effects.

Khan has written to senior figures at BBC London, ITV London and LBC to ask them to include updates on the quality of London’s air during their news bulletins and weather reports and on their websites and apps, which would be coordinated with the existing city-wide alert system.

One of the Mayor’s first actions in office was to use electronic signage across the capital’s transport network to alert Londoners when there are high levels of pollution in the air.

The alerts are displayed at 2,500 bus countdown signs and river pier signs, 140 road-side dot matrix message signs on the busiest main roads into the city (with advice to switch engines off when stationary to reduce emissions) and electronic update signs in the entrances of all 270 London Underground stations.

Khan, said: “London’s filthy air poses a significant threat to our health including harming the development of children’s lungs, and I’m committed to tackling this issue so Londoners can breathe more easily.

“I’m pressing ahead with plans to improve air quality in the capital through measures such as the T-charge, the launch of which is only a few weeks away, as well as in-depth work to help us understand the full impact of poor air.

“Broadcasters are already doing excellent work covering the threat to public health posed by the capital’s filthy air and I’m asking them to go even further and help empower Londoners to reduce their exposure to harmful pollution. They can do this by providing regular daily air quality information as part of their weather broadcasts.

“I hope that the growing number of weather apps that many Londoners now use will also follow suit and provide air quality information.”

 

T-charge

The T-charge will be introduced on October 23 and will be the toughest emission standard of any city in the world. The vast majority of pre-2006 vehicles will need to pay an additional £10 emissions surcharge to travel in the central London Congestion Charge zone.

Picture: Cutting through the grime - broadcasters have been asked to include air quality reports in their programming

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 14 September 2017

Share



Related Articles

World Humidity Control Day Launches

An awareness day to promote the impact of humidity control in our daily lives and the buildings we live and work in has launched.  The Humidity Control Group, a...

 Read Full Article
Lockdown Air Quality Boost in Oxford Led to Reduced Asthma Hospital Stays

New research shows that asthmatics in Oxford had fewer hospital stays in 2020, largely due to reduced air pollution during the national lockdown. Falling...

 Read Full Article
World Ventil8 Day Returns for 2023

The second annual World Ventil8 Day was held on 8 November 2023 to raise awareness of ventilation as a crucial part of human wellbeing. Beginning in 2022, the...

 Read Full Article
Clean Air Zone Scheme Reduces Air Pollution in Birmingham

A Clean Air Zone in Birmingham has successfully reduced the levels of nitrogen dioxide gas in the city. Nitrogen dioxide gas (NO2) is an air pollutant which adversely...

 Read Full Article
Low-Cost Sensors Could Provide Air Pollution Detection Breakthrough

A trial at the HS2 construction site at Curzon Street has demonstrated that low-cost sensors could determine sources of air pollution. The study, published in npj...

 Read Full Article
HSE Calls Levels of Irreversible Lung Disease in Construction ‘Unacceptable’

Life-threatening lung disease caused by silica dust claims the lives of more than 500 construction workers each year. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is planning...

 Read Full Article
Unilever Company Becomes First Air Purifier Brand to Become B Corp

Blueair has announced its certification as a B Corporation – the first air purifier brand to do so. Certified B Corporations, or B Corps, are companies verified...

 Read Full Article
BESA President’s Lunch 2023

The answer to many of the UK’s serious social and economic challenges could be solved by its engineering community, said the President of the Building...

 Read Full Article
Clean Heating Policies Improve Air Quality in Northern China

China’s centralised winter heating strategy has helped to prevent over 23,000 fewer premature deaths in 2021 than in 2015, a new study has revealed. From 2015 to...

 Read Full Article
30% of London’s Particulate Matter is From Construction Sites

Data collected from industry stakeholders shows that air pollution from construction sites has been steadily on the rise in recent decades. The charity, Impact on...

 Read Full Article