Consultation launched on plans to improve air quality in Lewisham

The Council has monitored downward trends in the levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter on Lewisham roads since 2014. The action plan details what the Council, and its partners, will do to continue to reduce concentrations of, and exposure to, air pollution, building on the achievements of the Air Quality Action Plan for 2016-2021.

Air quality has a major impact on the health and quality of life of residents and visitors to the borough. Air pollution can have a detrimental effect on people’s health, especially our most vulnerable citizens; children, the elderly and people with existing health conditions. It is therefore important that the Council and its partners continue to work together to make a concentrated effort to improve air quality.

Councillor Patrick Codd, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said:

“The Council has made important strides in improving air quality in the borough in recent years but we know there is more that needs to be done. We want to work with residents, local businesses and our London partners to make Lewisham a cleaner, greener, healthier place to live, work and visit.

“We have been ambitious in our plans to tackle the Climate Emergency and have made huge achievements to date which have contributed to a significant fall in emissions year on year. Our draft Action Plan for the five years ahead will build on these successes to improve the public health of Lewisham residents.”

Lewisham’s Climate Emergency Action Plan, approved by the Mayor and Cabinet in 2020, includes a range of measures across the Council’s corporate estate, housing, transport and green spaces, with the ambitious aim of Lewisham being carbon neutral by 2030.

Tackling air quality, which will improve the environment and reduce carbon emissions, is integral to that goal. Carbon emissions in the borough have fallen by an estimated 100,000 tonnes in the last four years and this Action Plan aims to rapidly accelerate this reduction in pollution.

The consultation launches Wednesday 1 September and runs until Tuesday 28 September 2021.

Residents can read the full draft Air Quality Action Plan, as well as a summary outlining its key features, and complete the consultation online.

Alternatively, printed consultation documents are available at Lewisham, Deptford and Downham libraries, or by emailing EnvironmentalProtection@lewisham.gov.uk.

The consultation document needs to be completed and returned to the Council by Tuesday 28 September.