London exceeds annual pollution limit — just days into 2017

London has already exceeded pollution guidelines for the whole of 2017 just days into the year.
Legal air pollution limits for the entire year were broken just five days into 2017 in London, figures show.

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Brixton Road, Lambeth has claimed the dubious honour of being the first air quality monitoring site to see levels of pollutant nitrogen dioxide exceed the annual hourly limits less than a week into the new year.

European Union limits demand that maximum hourly concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, which is mostly caused by road traffic in towns and cities, are not exceeded for more than 18 hours a year.

But monitoring by the London Air project from King’s College, London, showed that the rules had been breached by 9pm on Thursday for the pollutant, which is linked to heart and lung problems and even early deaths.

The news, which saw a London street break the rules even earlier than last year when Putney High Street exceeded the annual 18-hour limit for nitrogen dioxide by January 8, prompted an angry reaction from clean air campaigners.
Other London roads are expected to exceed the limits shortly.

Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Monday, Nov. 28, 2016. Khan said he received private assurances from the British government that European Union citizens living in the capital will not be compelled to leave the country. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, told Metro.co.uk: ‘Tackling poor air quality in London is a public health emergency, and I want London to be a world leader in how we respond to the challenge.

‘Removing the dirtiest buses from our streets will make a big contribution cleaning up our air, but I want to go further. That’s why I’m introducing a new T-charge for older polluting vehicles in central London, and consulting on introducing the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone within the North and South Circular.

‘The Government need to demonstrate they understand the enormity of our air quality emergency, and share our ambition. I’m urging the Government to take their responsibility seriously and introduce a national diesel scrappage scheme to deliver the step change we need on the dirtiest diesel vehicles.’