Raising awareness about air quality and working with others

Pollution alerts

Daily air pollution levels are monitored and levels are shown on the daily air quality index (DAQI).

Occasionally there are short term increases in pollution levels across parts, or the whole, of London. This could be for one or several of the air pollutants including ozone, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter.

You can sign-up to receive alerts on high pollution days, so you can do the following:

• reconsider your activities to avoid making pollution worse for example:
  • walk instead of drive
  • don’t BBQ or use solid fuel burning appliances
• consider the routes you take to avoid high pollution areas, such as walking or cycling along quieter streets rather than main roads
• change times of activities such as exercise to avoid the rush hour when pollution levels tend to peak – this is particularly important if you have underlying health conditions such as asthma or heart problems

View more information on how to protect yourself on high pollution days.

Air Aware

Air Aware is a newly developed tool created by four partner boroughs: Tower Hamlets, Newham, and the City of London Corporation, along with ourselves. Defra’s Air Quality Grant Scheme funded the tool.

The web based tool aims to improve awareness of air quality and highlights ways for people to lower their exposure to air pollution. A group of residents from all four participating boroughs co-designed it. They wanted to make sure the content is engaging and interesting for users.

You can use the Air Aware tool to:

• see real time air pollution levels across Hackney and the wider project area
• find out more about air quality by asking questions to the artificial intelligence powered assistant
• get recommendations on how to reduce your and your loved ones’ exposure to air pollution through simple actions
• read and watch educational resources
• find local events

Air Aware is completely free to use. It requires no download, and is accessible on many devices including smartphones, laptops and PCs. It’s also available in 18 of the most commonly spoken languages in North East London.

In Hackney, the tool is available to use in many public areas. Display screens are currently located at:

• Hackney Service Centre (Lobby near to pod 1)
• Hackney Central Library (1st floor near the computer area)
• Homerton Library (Ground floor)
• Dalston CLR Library (Ground floor in the Library of Things area)

We are very excited to bring Air Aware to you. It highlights the boroughs’ hard work towards improving air quality and awareness around air pollution and its effects.

To use the tool, visit Air Aware.

Lobbying and working with others

We’re an official supporter of Clean Air Night. This is an event organised by Global Action Plan to raise awareness of the impacts on air quality from burning wood and coal in our homes. The event takes place on January 24, 2024, for more information visit Global Action Plan – CleanAirNight.

Global Action Plan also manages a Clean Air Hub. The hub has more information and resources on air quality which you can view and download.

As air pollution has no boundaries, it’s important that we work with others to improve air quality for all.

We’ve successfully lobbied regional and national government. This includes:

• being a lead borough in lobbying Transport for London (TfL) to extend the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) from central London to the North and South Circulars. The ULEZ extension will be introduced in October 2021
• responding to government consultations on airport expansions, putting forward the case for Hackney residents

We’ll continue to lobby the government for stricter measures to reduce air pollution.

This includes being part of a collective effort to lobby the government to introduce the World Health Organisation air quality guidelines into regulations.

While we’re committed to working towards meeting these tighter standards, the regulations would apply across the whole of England.

We also collaborate with a variety of organisations and groups including other London boroughs, The Greater London Authority, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and charities and the Environment Agency on ways to improve air quality.

Working with public health

As air pollution can have a significant impact on health, we work closely with colleagues in public health so we can ensure that the most vulnerable in Hackney are given the support they need.

This includes a programme of assessing air quality at all health centres in Hackney, including Homerton Hospital, plus providing expert advice on how air pollution can impact health and how we can reduce our exposure to air pollution.

See our air quality action plan for more details on how we are improving air quality across the borough.