The Mayor’s nursery air quality audit programme
Air pollution can cause long-lasting harm to children’s health and well-being. Research shows that children who grow up in areas with high pollution levels are likely to have smaller lung capacity than those living with cleaner air. To address this, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has audited 50 primary schools in the city’s most polluted areas to find ways of reducing children’s exposure to toxic air. Following the success of this programme, the Mayor has extended it to 20 nurseries across the capital.
The nursery audits have made recommendations to reduce emissions and exposure. They include:
- 'no engine idling' schemes to reduce emissions from drop off and collection
- reducing emissions from boilers, kitchens and other sources
- school streets – where the road is closed to traffic at nursery drop off and collection times
- adding green infrastructure like ‘barrier bushes’ along busy roads and in playgrounds to help filter fumes
- encouraging students to walk, cycle and scoot to nursery along less polluted routes
- six were selected to trial an indoor air filtration system to determine if this could have a positive effect on reducing indoor air quality.
The audits were funded with £250,000 from the Mayor. They were carried out by engineering consultancy WSP.
The nursery air quality audit reports are available below, sorted by borough.
Camden
NAQA Thomas Coram Centre
Greenwich
NAQA Rachel McMillan Nursery School
NAQA Robert Owen Nursery School
Haringey
NAQA Pembury House Nursery School
Kensington and Chelsea
NAQA Maxilla and Goldborne Children's Centre
Lambeth
Lewisham
NAQA Clyde Nursery School
NAQA Kay Rowe Nursery School
Newham
NAQA Sheringham Nursery School
Richmond
NAQA Windham Nursery School
Southwark
NAQA Ann Bernadt Nursery School
NAQA Kintore Way Nursery School
NAQA Nell Gywnn Nursery School
Tower Hamlets
NAQA Alice Model Nursery School
NAQA Columbia Market Nursery School
Wandsworth
NAQA Somerset Nursery School
Westminster
NAQA Dorothy Gardner Nursery School
NAQA Tachbrook Nursery School
Trials of six Air Filtration Systems (AFS) were funded by the Mayor and undertaken by WSP consultancy from April 2019 until October 2019. The six participating nurseries were selected using evidence from the air quality audit assessments, site visits, baseline air quality monitoring in and around the nursery, and modelled air quality data.
The report found that AFS can be effective in certain circumstances at reducing PM2.5, and to a lesser extent NO2, in a real-world nursery environment. Given the dynamic nature of classrooms, with opened doors and windows, constantly varying occupancy and pupil movements, the fact that AFS have been able to demonstrate a positive impact upon the nursery indoor air quality is an encouraging outcome of this trial. However, currently there are no UK design standards, minimum performance requirements or testing criteria for air filtration systems.
The Mayor has written to the Secretary of State for Environment, George Eustice, and the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, calling on the Government to urgently address this in order to help educational establishments and local authorities make a more informed choice about whether to install an AFS. This will ensure they are in a better position to do all they can to reduce exposure to air pollution as safely and effectively as possible.
Read the Air Filtration study
Taking recommendations forward
The Mayor wants local boroughs to work with the audited nurseries to take forward the recommendations. WSP will also be supporting the nurseries in developing implementation plans. TfL’s Local Implementation Plans will support this by funding delivery of transport recommendations.
Through his school audit programme, the Mayor has encouraged London boroughs to audit every school within an area of high pollution, he is now calling for the same approach to be taken with nurseries. This toolkit can be used by schools, nurseries, workplaces, hospitals and other organisations to get start.
Need a document on this page in an accessible format?
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of a PDF or other document on this page in a more accessible format, please get in touch via our online form and tell us which format you need.
It will also help us if you tell us which assistive technology you use. We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.